Artist Statement
STATEMENT 2011 The new paintings attempt to reveal depth within expressive space. The landscape is the result of the inquiry rather than the primary concern. The brush is looser, the form freer. Within the blizzard the eye seeks for a point of reference. The landscape paintings are my response to the sensory overload of the modern condition. The landscapes are uninhabited and provide visual relief from the omnipresent imposition of noise and chatter. I abstract from nature by attempting a simplified version of the truth that I see. I reduce the moment into its gesture: a memory that retains only the most important facts; like a visual haiku. Some of the paintings flirt with pure abstraction yet they manage to retain a sense of landscape. The paintings are created from a synthesis of views detached from that of an actual view. They have no apparent topographical or physical human involvement; that is, nothing artificial. My technique tends toward bold strokes. The line is sometimes calligraphic sometimes poured: the form is simplified with (or through) expanse of color. Since I want to describe with an economy of line or color, I employ free movements of the arm and hand without the constraint of a defined outcome. Katdufault@gmail.com
Educational Background
EDUCATION Columbia University, NY; BA in Fine Arts (with Gregory Ammenoff , Judy Pfaff and Archie Rand.) Foundation Course in Art and Design: Painting and Photography; Cambridge College of Arts and Technologies, Cambridge, England. RESIDENCY 2007 Artist Residency (painting), Vermont Studio Center, VT. (with Bill Jensen, Phoebe Adams) AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS Department Honors,Columbia University, NY Deans list (3 years)Columbia University, NY Merit ScholarshipColumbia University, NY Merit Scholarship Cambridge College for Arts and Technologies, UK Born in Cambridge, England, Katharine (nee Katharine Fields) studied the classics, philosophy and literature, before graduating with a degree in painting from Columbia University, NY. Katharine now lives and works in Westchester, NY.
