Kathryn Blommel is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. Her art explores feminist themes, particularly focusing on feminine adolescence and the relationship between landscape and the body. She has showcased her work at venues like the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Gamut Gallery, Burl Gallery, Soo Visual Arts Center, and the Quarter Gallery at the University of Minnesota. Her work has appeared in journals including the Yale Journal of Art and Art History, The Harvard Undergraduate Art Journal and See/Saw at the University of California, Berkeley. Kathryn's artistic practice has received support through grants and scholarships from organizations such as the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Central Minnesota Arts Board, and the University of Minnesota. In the summer of 2025 she will attend the New York Academy of Art's Summer Undergraduate residency on The Academic Merit Scholarship.
Statement
I work primarily in charcoal and graphite, creating surreal, emotionally charged compositions that center the female form within vast, often disorienting landscapes. These drawings investigate the complex interplay between internal states and external surroundings, with recurring motifs such as lifeless trees, reflections, and still figures. These elements operate as symbolic carriers of memory, identity, and intergenerational trauma. My aim is to depict women not as passive muses, but as living embodiments of inherited experiences, psychological weight, and quiet resilience.
Drawing on personal experiences, I incorporate recurring motifs such as trees, vast landscapes and the female figure into my compositions. Trees are a central symbol in my work—often rendered bare, fragmented, or reflected—serving as visual metaphors for lineage, loss, and the unseen forces that shape identity. Their branches frequently consume or entangle the figure, anchoring them within an atmospheric and often unpredictable landscape. These entanglements reflect the psychological imprint of familial and cultural narratives that are not easily escaped. For me, the tree symbolizes a way to explore themes of intergenerational trauma, sexual violence, and the challenges of feminine adolescence. My work engages with concepts of concealment and distortion, reflecting how memory—especially traumatic memory—can both reveal and obscure truths. By doing so, I aim to initiate a quiet yet powerful conversation with viewers about what it means to carry history within the body.