Artist Statement
As an art therapist, I witness the power of creativity to heal, reveal and transform. This experience deeply influences my artwork, which also draws inspiration from the raw beauty and contradictions of nature - its balance of chaos ad calm, fragility and resilience.
My artwork begins with a monotype. The printing process allows me to create images, using natural materials, or simply move paint across the plate, creating texture and movement. It is a medium that feels like the art creates itself.
In my studio in Sonoma, I surround myself with the colors, rhythms, patterns, movement and mood created in the in the images. As I shift the prints around, putting some together and moving some apart, I determine what needs to happen next to allow the art to fully express itself. I tear or cut, often coat them with a Japanese paste that protects the paper and strengthens the fibers, allowing me to explore what more the material can offer. The strengthened paper allows for me to embroider, weave or collage, depending on what the work calls for.
About
Kate Rogers is a collage artist in Sonoma, California and has been creating monotypes since the mid 1980’s. In her current work, she uses a variety of materials to allow the viewer to see something familiar in a new way. By highlighting the intricacies of materials like linen thread, raffia, fabric, or lichen, her work brings the viewer into more intimate contact with what these materials offer. By using the traditional crafts of sewing, weaving and embroidery, she honors these crafts and the generations of artisans before her.
Kate studied painting, drawing, design and printing at the University of Miami in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s Kate returned to school for a Masters Degree in Psychology and Art Therapy. After working with adolescents and families at the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto, CA, she opened a private practice in San Mateo, CA. For more than twenty five years she has helped children, adolescents and adults work through life’s challenges, finding their voices through the process of making art.
Kate is a Certified Mari Practitioner. Mari is a psychological assessment tool using mandalas to help people understand their inner truths. She runs an art group for seniors in Sonoma, emphasizing self care through creative expression. She prints her monotypes at the Sonoma Community Center’s Printing Studio and then creates her collages at her home studio in Sonoma. Kate is a member of the California Society of Printmakers.