Biography
Kate Gaudreau was born and raised in the Baltimore area. After graduating from the University of Virginia (B.A. Studio Art and Art History), she worked first in art galleries and then many years in visual merchandising and interior design as a creative leader, manager, and administrator. During that time, she returned to the joy and mindfulness of her painting and photography whenever possible to refresh and recenter. Over the last several years she has had the opportunity to delve more deeply into her personal creative work.
Kate’s art has been included in multiple juried exhibitions at the Circle Gallery of the Maryland Federation of Art in Annapolis, Maryland. In the Adirondacks her paintings are shown at the Corscaden Barn Gallery and with the High Peaks Artists, both in Keene Valley, NY.
A parallel focus has been The Kokeshi Project (https://www.thekokeshiproject.com/), a collection of photographic portraits of her collection of Japanese kokeshi dolls observing the passing of the seasons within nature. Her first book pairs these portraits with the haiku of Japanese masters.
Kate lives with her husband Michael, also an artist, in Bel Air, Maryland.
Artist Statement
The act of painting reflects my personal response and connection to the natural world and the beauty within it. My work is not driven by a desire for a realistic depiction or the grand view. Instead, it often narrows in on a part of the landscape or a smaller piece of texture or intersections of shapes and lines.
Whether I am painting plein air or in the studio, it is important for me to be both familiar with and inspired in some way by the subject. I feel a deep connection with the Adirondack landscape having spent time there for three decades, and it never fails to provide fresh inspiration. The rural areas of Maryland, near where I live and near Annapolis (which I often visit), stir me as well. And at my home, the relatively humble garden, woods, and stream that my husband and I care for is also a continual inspiration.
Gouache is my primary media because I find it to be portable and flexible, allowing the image to determine what base is chosen and letting the creative process tell me whether or not to introduce any additional media. I choose to work on a relatively small scale for practical purposes and also to create a more intimate experience with the viewer.
Selected exhibitions
Circle Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD.
Small Wonders - 2015, 2017, 2019-2023
Strokes of Genius - 2017, 2021, 2022
Works on Paper - 2021, 2022-2023
Elemental Earth, Fire, Water, Air - 2020
Summer Members Show - 2019
Focal Point - 2018
Corscaden Barn Gallery, Keene Valley, New York. 2019-2024.
Gallery 220, Havre de Grace, MD
Float - 2024
High Peaks Artists annual group exhibition, Keene Valley, New York. 2013-2023.
Haiku
My interest in and appreciation for Japanese haiku deepened when I began The Kokeshi Project (https://www.thekokeshiproject.com/). I found that the emotion evoked by the photographs could be echoed or heightened by pairing them with haiku and I began to write my own. It seemed only natural to extend this practice to some of my paintings, basing the writing on the moment or place that was the inspiration or what the piece was about.
My hope is that the viewer will find there is much to see and feel in my paintings despite their often diminutive size, just as there can be deep and complex meaning behind the seventeen syllables of the haiku form.