Rising Stars: Meet Kathleen Werner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Werner.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
My artistic career began about 10 years ago while I was completing a program at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. I have always had a deep love and appreciation for architectural design which led me to shadow the master’s program at Taliesin West in Arizona. My experience there was incredible and remains one of the dearest memories of my life.

One night I was sitting in the moongate of Frank Lloyd Wright’s private garden, exhausted from a long day of studies and thinking about how I could create something tangible and elegant, a permanent installation to gift to the school grounds. The curvature of the moongate was so cradling and though a bit on the small side, quite comfortable. I decided to start designing a chair, a sculpture that would be an expression of my experience there. After an intense design process and lots of calls to local fabricators, I created my first piece, the Etazin Chair. Since then I have these chairs placed all over the country as public art and have sold to collectors around the world.

After my time at Taliesin, I moved to Manhattan with my new husband and decided there was no better place or time to become an artist. I had a studio in Harlem that I loved and then one in the Bronx that I loved even more. I went through so many transitions and growing experiences to arrive comfortably at my current artistic style. Though artists never stop changing and growing I have found myself quite obsessed with working on a series I call “Ecliptics”, large geometric interactive paintings. With the use of varied symmetries, metallic and iridescent media, and countless hours of detailed line work, these paintings are a wonderful thing to experience and quite pleasing to the eye.

After spending a whirlwind 5 years in NYC and pregnant with my second (of now 3) children we decided to move to Raleigh and grow our family in this gorgeous and welcoming city. We fell in love with Raleigh instantly and even in the few years, we have been here having been amazed at how much it has grown. I have my studio here now and am busy filling it with new work constantly.

I have paintings showing around the country but am also showing locally at the CMAC gallery in downtown Raleigh.

I also recently learned that the City of Raleigh is commissioning one of my Etazin Chairs to display at the art center at Shelley Lake Park., which will be installed later this year. As a fine artist new to Raleigh I feel very at home and welcomed by the art community, one that I love watching bloom and expand, just like our city.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Choosing a career as a fine artist is never a smooth road, but it is an extremely rewarding one. The biggest struggle I face is being introverted in industry and age that tends to thrive on eccentricity and extroversion. I am happiest when I am hiding away in my studio working 8 hours a day.

Give me a good audiobook and a paintbrush and I happily disappear into the work. Also finding canvases big enough for the work I want to do, or clients with houses big enough to hold them.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in large geometric-style paintings and sculptures. My work is incredibly unique, in a way and at its most basic it is all just circles and lines, but what makes anything unique is how it is crafted and executed. Coming from an architectural background I create these paintings laying flat on spinning rails and utilize drafting tools for the designs.

I always start out with a circle right at the center, from there the design creates itself, there is no forethought I let the design take shape of its own volition. After laying down an initial design I hand draw each line and curve, lay on a myriad of colors, and after many years of working on color theory, this can be a long process. I often paint over sections multiple times until it’s right since it is hard to know exactly how each color will compliment the other until you see them as a whole together on the canvas. I use a lot of metallic and interference paints so as light hits the canvas it may shine a different tone and shift as you walk around the piece.

Even though the colors are perfectly symmetrical in line with the style they will appear differently when viewed or photographed, adding a fun interactive element to the work. I love the idea of making art interactive, as my Etazin Chair, it is an 8ft steel sculpture consisting of 3 metal rings that spin around forming interesting architectural angles and allowing the person sitting inside to face whatever direction they prefer. People love sitting in the Etazin Chair and taking pictures, it is a big hit with kids, I am so thrilled there will be one on display locally at Shelley Lake Park soon for Raleigh to enjoy.

All of my Ecliptic designs tend to have an Art Deco feel to them, but in a modernized way, and I think by using varied symmetries they take on an organic movement, playing with the eye while calming it with an expected order. I have pride in everything I create, it is all part of the journey we take as artists, growing and shifting and watching our craft and styles evolve. It is an absolute joy to be able to do this professionally and the projects and ideas I have for the future excite me to no end,

What’s next?
In the immediate future, I am focused on a lot of current commissions and steadily growing my presence as a fine artist. I have a grand idea for some large installation projects that have been whispering and formulating for years in the back of my mind.

I would love to build these designs out in a walkable space, an erected geometry experiential construct based on the Ecliptic designs Until then I will let my work guide me and give it and myself the freedom to grow and evolve as it sees fit in whatever incarnation that may be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kathleenwerner.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/_kathleenwerner
• Other: www.etazin.com