This month, Gallery Moab showcases the work of guest artist Kathy Grossman who calls Moab her home since 2011. A gallery reception for Kathy will be held January 13, 2018 from 5-8 pm. In this cold and dormant winter season, her work brings added color and life to walls of the gallery. In her own words, Kathy writes of her early influences and her recent exploration with new mediums.

“Born into a family of musicians, I was the only artist. My mother indulged me by keeping crayons, scrap paper, and picture books available. Then my observant third-grade teacher Miss Guthrie recognized a timid little girl who offered to prepare classroom bulletin boards from the huge rolls of paper and stacks of construction paper in the teacher’s workroom. Having always inspected paintings and drawings since I was quite young, I’m so lucky to have been encouraged all along the way. Support came early from my parents and grandparents, who were all musicians but sent me art supplies for my birthdays. Later came encouragement from friends and co-workers, trips to Paris, and now the welcoming Moab community.

My adult days of elementary school teaching and nights of country-western singing and songwriting were always accompanied by ongoing drawing and painting projects. Those projects usually celebrated lines: in cartooning, spot illustrations, and now, in scratchboard. Hard edges and bold contrasts have always appealed to me. I took a scratchboard class in Tucson from former Moabite Rick Wheeler and have been hooked on this medium ever since. Scratching away black ink to expose fine white lines is perfect for showing feathers, fur, scales, and wood grains. Since moving to Moab in 2011, I’m also learning to work in pastels, usually incorporating my cartoonist sensibilities of bold lines. I hope to continue to explore new media as I work in the large studio in my boyfriend’s home where I can work on up to six art projects at a time.

Maybe it’s that I’m turning 70 in January and tending toward the reflective. Maybe it’s that I’ve added scratchboard, pastel, and now embroidery to my lifelong media of pen-and-ink illustration and acrylics. I’m riding a wave of possibility. Whatever the circumstances, I find myself expanding my artistic impulses. To all who struggle with time for creativity, I say look for teachers and be bold. Find studio space where you find it, and that could be corner of a kitchen. Explore different media. Dabble and open yourself like a desert flower to the rain of opportunity. A friend once offered to compile my black-and-white sketches into a clip-art portfolio. Grab hold! Your personal artistic truth cannot be denied.”

Gallery Moab, a co-op gallery founded by a group of local artists in March of 2014, showcases the work of a diverse group of artists who live and work in southeast Utah, and who cooperatively own, operate, and staff the gallery. The gallery, open daily from 12-9 pm, is located at 87 North Main Street in Moab.

See more of us at gallerymoab.com and on Facebook.