Kathrine Lovell

Biography

Kathrine Lovell was born in Sydney, Australia, and raised a stone's throw from Manhattan in Leonia, New Jersey. Her artistic family influenced her tremendously. "My mother was a painter and had a trunk full of fabric. She would say, 'Make something; entertain yourself!'" Kathrine grew up inventing creative projects and thought all families were like hers. Kathrine received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and has worked for over a decade as a theatre set painter and muralist. In 1987 she established her own decorative painting business and has taught in continuing education programs at RISD, the Rhode Island Watercolor Society and Barrington Community School near her home in Barrington, Rhode Island. She works daily in her studio, a building that began as a two-lane candlepin bowling alley and speak-easy. It's a 100 yard walk from her backdoor past the garden of many flowers and favorite weeds. "My space has two giant tables on casters, two walls to pin things on with lots of articles, paintings and photos." Many elements make Kathrine Lovell's paintings unique. Her work balances an ethereal view of the natural world with complex patterning. The paintings are a combined group of individual smaller images, creating the effect of tile and using evocative juxtapositions. After she creates a pattern the more organic painting begins – most often themes from nature – birds, flowers, leaves. She might end up painting out three quarters of the design, but in the end their exists an ephemeral floating quality that is grounded by the patterns. "I am really aware of this feeling that nature is disappearing," she states. "The relationship between the organic and the geometric really gets to me. I think about it a lot."