Art

Current Work

Journey Into Intimacy & The BodyPrint Healing Series :: 2009+

Portfolio

The current body of mixed media paintings, Journey Into Intimacy and prints, BodyPrint Healing Series are a visual representation of an intuitive cathartic process. The Drawing Series are a daily meditation and pulse checking of the natural world.

Journey Into Intimacy depicts an inner landscape of the senses. Part dream, part yearning and part sacred symbol the work stems from a holistic perception of the world. Emotions are spiritualized into divine patterns pre-existing in nature; the spiral, the circle, a seedpod.

The paintings are steeped in pure and brilliant SoCal color. “The lack of tradition here allows artists to go farther out in defining their own culture.” (Chris Burden) Lyrically and synaesthetically responsive to the music that inspires the work the process is intuitive, spontaneous and process oriented, the brushstrokes erotic and restless in their unashamed vulnerability.

Charcoal, pastel and acrylics are applied in layers to a smooth prepared surface using garden rakes, fingers, (house painting) brushes, sponges, scraping tools and my body pressed into the surface; the process itself leading the way.

“Even as we pass into a time when pencil smudges themselves are an increasingly exoticized thing of the past, the world is still tactile and material. To touch it is to know it.” (Amy Sillman, Art Forum, Summer 2011)

The BodyPrint Healing Series are etchings and monoprints created to help heal the emotional, physical and mental body. It’s as if through the process of scratching (etching) and imprinting the body onto the plate that the work itself sublimates the need for any harm to come to the body.

It is through the process of creating that a critical distance is achieved between body, mind, and soul so that healing can take place. Instead of falling victim to pain and suffering, these feelings can instead be transferred onto paper, objectified, transformed and healed.
___________________________________________________________________

Early Work

Creative Soul Cards® aka the’ Lefties’ :: Early 2000

Portfolio

In 2001 I began drawing almost exclusively with my non-dominant left hand. I called these drawings ‘talking heads’ or ‘lefties’ because they all had funny little names and no necks. Five years later I had painted over 500 lefties, enough to inhabit my own brave new world and I’d completely lost track of which hand was left and which was right. I like to say that I began this series because my overly dominant right hand lost its sense of humour, but really, I just needed to shake things up a bit.

Later I was guided by a dream to turn the lefties into an oracle card deck and to give psychic readings because my intuitive abilities had increased to the point where I just HAD to give back.

LuLu in Laguna Series: Healing the Inner Child :: 1995-2001

Portfolio

Most of these silk and watercolor paintings were inspired by eight years of living in the mermaidalicious beach town of Laguna Beach, California.

ALL WORK IS FOR SALE
enquiries: kathy@kathycrabbe.com

View more art here.
___________________________________________________________________

Resume

Born 1965, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Lives Southern California.

Artist Statement

The current body of mixed media paintings, Journey Into Intimacy and prints, BodyPrint Healing Series are a visual representation of an intuitive cathartic process. The Drawing Series are a daily meditation and pulse checking of the natural world.

Journey Into Intimacy depicts an inner landscape of the senses. Part dream, part yearning and part sacred symbol the work stems from a holistic perception of the world. Emotions are spiritualized into divine patterns pre-existing in nature; the spiral, the circle, a seedpod.

The paintings are steeped in pure and brilliant SoCal color. “The lack of tradition here allows artists to go farther out in defining their own culture.” (Chris Burden) Lyrically and synaesthetically responsive to the music that inspires the work the process is intuitive, spontaneous and process oriented, the brushstrokes erotic and restless in their unashamed vulnerability.

Charcoal, pastel and acrylics are applied in layers to a smooth prepared surface using garden rakes, fingers, (house painting) brushes, sponges, scraping tools and my body pressed into the surface; the process itself leading the way.

“Even as we pass into a time when pencil smudges themselves are an increasingly exoticized thing of the past, the world is still tactile and material. To touch it is to know it.” (Amy Sillman, Art Forum, Summer 2011)

The BodyPrint Healing Series are etchings and monoprints created to help heal the emotional, physical and mental body. It’s as if through the process of scratching (etching) and imprinting the body onto the plate that the work itself sublimates the need for any harm to come to the body.

It is through the process of creating that a critical distance is achieved between body, mind, and soul so that healing can take place. Instead of falling victim to pain and suffering, these feelings can instead be transferred onto paper, objectified, transformed and healed.

Solo and Group Exhibitions

2012
Your Face Here: The Modern Self Portrait, San Jacinto College Art Gallery, San Jacinto, California
San Diego Public Library Local Author Exhibit, San Diego, California
Riverside Arts Council Exhibit, Riverside, California
PNET Members’ Print II Show, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California

2011
Off The Wall, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
PNET Members’ Print Show, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
Artscape Fall & Winter 2011, Riverside County Administrative Center, Riverside, California

2006
Making Zines=Making Herstory, Women’s History Museum and Educational Center, San Diego, California

2005
San Clemente Public Library, San Clemente, California

2004
Musician’s Workshop, Temecula, California
Art of Zines, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
Dark Matter, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland

2003
Zine Scene, Orange County Museum of Art Satellite, Costa Mesa, California
Borders Books, Chino, California
Jojo Pinkie Gallery, Costa Mesa, California

Public Collections

Baltimore Museum of Art Archives, Baltimore, Maryland
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Che Café Collective Zine Library, La Jolla, California
Columbia Teacher’s College Zine Library, New York, New York
Olymbia Zine Library, Olympia, Washington
Pacific Northwest College of Art Library, Portland, Oregon
San Diego State University Special Collections Library, San Diego, California
San Jose Museum of Art, Anno Domini Art of Zines Library, San Jose, Californiap>
Sheridan Zine Library, Welland, Ontario
Solidarity! Revolutionary Center and Radical Library, Lawrence, Kansas
UCLA Arts Library, Los Angeles, California
100 Sided Die Library, Montreal’s Mile End, Montréal, Québec

Galleries

American Visions Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
Artscape, Long Beach, California
Art for the Soul, Balboa Island, California
Black Cat Gallery, San Juan Capistrano, California
Hanging Tree Gallery, Rolling Hills Estates, California
How Original Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach Art Museum Store, Laguna Beach, California
Mingei International Folk Museum Store, San Diego, California

Publications

2007-08
San Diego Poetry Annual

2008, 2005, 1995, 1993
We’Moon Journal and Datebook

2006
Dawn Magazine, Orange County, California
Lighthouse Wire, Kingston, Canada
Altar Magazine, Brooklyn, New York
Broken Pencil Magazine, Toronto, Canada
Neighbors Newspaper, Temecula, California
The Spoon Magazine, Windsor, Canada

2005-07
Kiss Machine, Toronto, Canada

2003
Art Business News

Self Published

Awaken Your Divine Feminine Soul eClass
Barely A Taste Chapbook by Tangerine Bolen, Ground
Creative Soul Cards
Moon Musings Volume 1
Zines & Chapbooks: Mugwort, Gadfly, Ground, Songs of the Lefties
Zodiac Goddess Playbook

Reviews

2009
Voyageur Magazine, Kingston, Canada

2006
Broken Pencil Magazine, Toronto, Canada
Zine World Review #23
The Press Enterprise, Temecula, California

2003
LA Times Calender, Los Angeles, California

1997
Art Venues Magazine, Orange County, California

Licensed Art

Creative Image Licensing
Designer Fabric Handbags
Enchanted Tattoos
Fantasy Tea Shop
Fantasy Fabric Block
Recycled Paper Greetings
The Fairy Society

Speaking Engagements

2007
Speaker, San Diego Poetry Publication Party, San Diego, California

2006
Speaker, North County Author’s and Poets Book Fair, Escondido, California

2003
Artist Speaker, Michelle Shocked, Campfire Series, International Women’s Day Show, “Civil Liberties Are Like Marshmallows” in collaboration with the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Los Angeles, California

Interviews

2010
Feminine Mojo Radio Interview
Wise Woman University Interview

2009
Voyageur Magazine Interview, St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Canada

1997
Art Venues Magazine, Orange County, California

Teaching

2010-present
Awaken Your Divine Feminine Soul eClass

2010
Wise Woman University Mentor, Awaken Your Divine Feminine Soul eClass

2001
HGTV, Your New House, silk painting demo

1995-2001
Artist Educator, Sawdust Art Festival, Laguna Beach, California

1990′s
Assistant Instructor, Laguna Outreach Community Artists, Laguna Beach, California
Private silk painting instruction, Laguna Beach, California

Art Shows

1994-present
Abbott Kinney Art Festival, Venice Beach, California
Art from the Heart, Solana Beach, California
Artistic License, Costa Mesa, California
Borrego Springs Circle of Art, California
Bowers Art Museum Show, Santa Ana, California
Carmel Valley Artists, San Diego, California
Fullerton Art Museum Show, California
Gogh Van Orange, Orange, California
Hillcrest Festival of Fine Arts, San Diego, California
Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines, Idyllwild, California
Irvine Studio Arts Festival, California
La Quinta Art Under the Umbrellas, California
New York Stationary Show, New York
Oceanside Days of Art, California
San Clemente Art Festival, California
Santa Monica Contemporary Crafts Market, California
Sawdust Art Festival (1995-2001), Laguna Beach, California
Sierra Madre Art Festival, Sierra Madre, California
Sierra Madre Creative Arts Group, California
Winter Sawdust Art Festival, Laguna Beach, California

Related Activities

2011-2012, 2008
Founding Member, Social Media Communications, Riverside Art Museum Printmakers Network, Riverside, California
Volunteer, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Temecula, California

2010
Founder Facilitator, Creative Soul Circle, social site

2007
Founder Facilitator, Temecula Artist’s Salon, Temecula, California

2006
Founder Facilitator, Temecula Writer’s Café, Temecula, California

Associations

Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Temecula, California
The Haggus Society, Los Angeles, California
Plein Air Artists of Riverside  (PAAR), Riverside Art Museum
Printmakers Network (PNET), Riverside Art Museum
Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
Women’s Caucus for Art, United States

Education

2005-11
Printmaking, letterpress, book arts studies with Leslie A. Brown, Dixon Fish, Igor Koutsenko, Victoria Rabinowe, Sibyl Rubottom, Helen Shafer Garcia, Christina Li, Amber George

2007-08
Printmaking, Palomar College, San Marcos, California

2003-06
Life drawing, Mt. San Jacinto College, Menifee, California

1994
Silk painting studies with Christine Mariotti, Wild Fibre, Long Beach, Califonria

1992
Graphic Design Diploma, St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Canada

1988
BA Art History, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada