Kathryn Blommel is currently based in Minneapolis, MN, where she attends the University of Minnesota studying fine art. Her art engages with notions of feminism that depict feminine adolescence and the entanglement of landscape and body. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Gamut Gallery, Soo Visual Arts Center, and the Quarter Gallery at the University of Minnesota. In 2022, her informative essay, "The Perpetual Cycle of Misogyny", was published alongside her art in the Yale Journal of Art and Art History. Her practice has been supported through grants and scholarships from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Central Minnesota Arts Board, and the University of Minnesota.
Statement
I work primarily with charcoal and graphite to develop surreal imagery centered around the female form. The landscapes I depict are often expansive and dramatic, translating an overpowering sense of weight to the viewer. The weight carried throughout the work provides a metaphor for the complexities of feminine identity, while the figure acts as a symbolic form of feminine strength. I fabricate these environments to understand the connection of space and its relationship to how women’s social identities are structured. My work addresses personal encounters with the uncomfortable and innocent nature of feminine adolescence by utilizing memory as a form of recollection and a signifier of growth. Through memories of my adolescence and the feminine relationships that have molded my identity, I begin to forge a place for my femininity to grow. The heart of my work holds these honest and reflective moments to represent women not just as objects of visual delectation, but as an embodiment of every experience that molds their identity.