Artist Statement
As soon as I enter a forest or step onto a rocky shoreline I feel part of a world humming with life. The sounds of wind and water calm the neural waves in my brain and immerse my senses in the rhythmic energy connecting everything around me. From the viewpoint of physics, all life in our universe is vibrating at various frequencies, including rocks, trees and objects that appear stationary. Today this delicate balance of rhythms that we depend on for life is endangered by climate change.
Drawing from my early training in piano and this interplay between equilibrium and chaos, I let music flow through my body, re-experiencing what Kandinsky called “stimmung,” the essential spirit of nature. I combine monotype prints with paint and drawing media and construct freeform collages with pieces cut from earlier paintings and dried acrylic bas relief remnants. I think of these mixed media works as stories hidden in nature’s rhythms, a reminder of connection when there is still time to choose reconciliation and renewal.
Bio
Originally from Montreal, I studied classical piano from age four through 20, then worked in New York and Baltimore as an offset printer, pacifist magazine editor and graphic designer. After a year of independent international bicycle travel that included China, Tibet, Bali and New Zealand, I built an award-winning graphic design firm in Maryland. I’m now a full-time artist living and working in Belfast on the Gulf of Maine, which has warmed faster than 99% of the global ocean.
Selected Exhibitions
2023
Potato Chips and Gingerale, Frank Brockman Gallery, Brunswick, ME, November 10–January 5
Veil, Juniper Rag, October 27–November 30
Water, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Portland, ME October 30–November 24
https://www.juniperrag.com/veil-exhibition/#kathrynshagas-veil
Fountain Street Gallery Annex, Boston, three-person exhibit. August 31–October 1. https://www.fsfaboston.com/annex-show-september-2023
Little Sparks, Lights Out Gallery, Norway, ME. August 24–October 7. https://www.lightsoutgallery.org/littlesparks
Waterways, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Damariscotta, ME. July 15–September 15.
Prince Street Gallery Annual Juried Show, NY, NY, August 1–19
https://princestreetgallery.com/juriedshow2023ex
In Balance/Imbalance, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Portland, ME. July 1-29. https://maineartsjournal.com/umva-showcase-summer-2023-artists-s-z/
2022
On the Edge, University of New Hampshire Museum of Art
2021
{ONnow} Concurrence, Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA)
Deepening the Meaning: 18 Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Painters, d | a | c concepts, Miami, FL
2020
Reflections on Water, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Belfast, ME
Art Saves Humanity, SeeMe
Art 10 Baltimore, NIH/NIDA/Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
2019
Picture Whimsies, a Celebration of Art Through Music, collaborative exhibit / Concert, Baltimore, MD
Art 10 Baltimore, Max Gallery, Baltimore, MD
NIH/Johns Hopkins Bayview, Baltimore, MD
Art 10 Baltimore, Village Cafe, Baltimore, MD
Art 10 Baltimore, The Charles Theater, Baltimore, MD
2018
Y:Art, Baltimore, MD
Summer Stable Show, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery
Abstraction, River Arts, Damariscotta, ME
2017
Summer Stable Show, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Belfast, ME
Art for Land's Sake, Owings Mills, MD
Art 10 Baltimore, Hoffberger Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Castine Arts Plein Air Festival, honorable mention award
2016
Thrive, Jordan Faye Contemporary, Baltimore, MD
Bromo After 5, Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, Baltimore, MD
Summer Stable Show, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Belfast, ME
2015
Jordan Faye Contemporary, Baltimore, MD
Hoofs, Roots & Wings, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Belfast, ME
2014
Two-person exhibit, Sascha's, Baltimore, MD
Thrive, Jordan Faye Contemporary, Baltimore, MD
Represented in Maryland by Bozzuto-Green Art. Works are included in numerous private and corporate collections.
Education
BFA , University of the Arts
Studies at the New York Studio School and Maryland Institute, College of Art