Kathleen Thompson
Bio
A California native, I was born in Sacramento and grew up in both Southern and
Northern California. I presently live and work in Sebastopol with my Son and Cocker Spaniel. Sebastopol the in the “North Bay”, which refers to the San Francisco Bay area.
The major influence on my painting include early immersion and appreciation of nature. My family moved from Sacramento to the Sierra Nevada mountains into a small cabin on the American River, and this pristine watery world contrasted with our frequent family trips to the mojave desert as my Father was an avid amateur mineralogist/geologist . We would search for hours among what appeared to be lifeless stretches of monotone landscape only to find a dazzling array of sparkling, magnificent gems. This was a magical connection and I trace my abstract and process paintings to these miraculous childhood experiences and observations of nature.
I did undergraduate work at U.C. Santa Barbara and took the majority of courses at the College of Creative Studies. The philosophy there was to “provide students with the intellectual environment and advice that allows transitions quickly from consumers of knowledge to colleagues in the act of human creativity in the arts and sciences”
The exposure and immersion in this philosophy; the artist-teachers, and fellow students gave me the foundation for what it means to be an artist and the practice of making art as a life long endeavor. I was influenced by my teachers there; Patsy Krebs, John McKracken, both minimalist painters, and William Dole, a collage-watercolorist. The emphasis was on exploration, freedom and personal vision.
I received my MFA from Francisco Art Institute in the low-residency summer program which allowed me to continue with my responsibilities as a single Mother. The immersion in contemporary art scene and artists at that time in my life was truly a gift.
I studied with incredible artists such as; Christopher Brown, Jeremy Morgan, Mark Van Proyen, Jamie Brunson, Frances McCormick, and John Zurier, among others. The one on one nature of the program was a natural progression in my process as a painter.
I was awarded the Montana Artist Refuge Award from SFAI, a full Gamblin Fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center from Gamblin Paint Co., The Richard Diebenkorn Painting award and the John and Ann Marion painting scholarship, both from the Santa Fe Art Institute. I was asked to be one of four artists from across the country to exhibit at Marymount Manhattan in New York City in 2010 and recently had a three-month exhibit at the Townsend Center for the Humanities on the UC Berkeley Campus. Major Public collections include; Motorola, Kaiser Permanente, and Sutter Memorial. I am currently having a three month exhibit at “Ligne Roset” in San Francisco.
