Katie Carruthers is a Mid-West based artist living and working in Kansas City, Mo. She works primarily in painting, but finds her work transcending into drawing and installation. Her work is informed foremost by nature, color and design sensibilities as she combines both realistic imagery and abstract backgrounds to create energetic environments pushing tensions and harmonies alike. 

 

"While working within various styles, I seek to understand thoughts on authenticity and it's presence in both art and in life.  I've become very interested in the actual vs. perceived realness or authenticity presented in various components of our lives; our food, bodies, relationships, the media, propaganda, and within that interest, how to then find the truest understanding of that information." 

 

The culmination is a colorful body of work including paintings of natural images thriving within abstract environments as well as non-objective paintings which rely on intuition and the unfettered mark.  In installation, Katie employs natural elements working in comparison with manufactured counterparts to further investigate the story of authenticity.  

 

Katie received a B.F.A from The University of Central Missouri in 2004, as well as her M.S.E. in 2010. She has also studied studio art at the Kansas City Art Institute. Katie has taught painting, drawing and art history at the high school and college levels for nine years, but is currently enjoying time away from education to be with her four young children and employ a renewed focus in the studio.