Biography of Kathleen Earthrowl
A passion for healing the mind, body and spirit has been a life-long quest for Kathleen Earthrowl, an award-winning contemporary artist in the Houston community. The arts were the vehicle through which Earthrowl became a psychotherapist more than twenty years ago. “All of ones life experiences are interrelated although we may not see the connectedness at the time”, she states. As a therapist, Earthrowl “practiced what she preached” and privately journaled about feelings, thoughts, aspirations, and her history. Little did she know that this process of drawing and writing was the subconscious core of a career from which she will never retire. Painting is her driving force and passion, bringing overwhelming surprise to her life.
No doubt about it, Earthrowl is focused. She paints on a daily basis. At one point she moved to N.Y.C. to study at the Art Students’ League. She has sought fine and notable teachers and discovered that her favorite studio is nature (plein air). Traveling to paint is first and foremost in her life. France, England, Wales, New Zealand, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, California, and Oregon are all in her repertoire and when not traveling, she paints in her studio at home.
Earthrowl’s entire life has been one of adventure and exploration. Born in Brimfield, Massachusetts, she has two children, a daughter who is a physician in Portland, Oregon and a son who is a psychotherapist in Houston. When she found herself in Houston in the late 70’s, she taught modern dance at the University of Houston and was an associate director of the Aesthetic Education program there. The arts led her further on a path to healing. She became involved with a group of students at Baylor College of Medicine and together they investigated the value of movement/dance and health. They started a dance group called The Dancemakers which focused on the healing nature of dance/movement. She taught at the Jung Center and became a movement therapist at St. Joseph’s Hospital, the beginning of a long career as a psychotherapist.
Earthrowl is described as an expressionist and colorist. Her work shows movement, vigorous brushstroke, and a sublime serenity. She is a “sensuous colorist” meaning that all the senses become a part of her painting experience. Her paintings are vibrant yet soothing, often described as healing and calming. Kathleen is represented by Mary Martin and ML Gallery in Charleston.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I continue to go back to my ponds in the woods in Brimfield, Massachusetts, where I was born, to bodies of water, to water lines that touch the earth, to twigs and branches born of leaves. It is a sensual affair with nature, always new, always inspiring.
I have discovered an area where I live, called East End. It is a wild, untouched wooded area where paths have been laid but the woods left in their natural state. It has inspired me to do a new and continuing series of work entitled East End.
The Big Thicket, in East Texas, natural rough land, rivers, inlets, huge trees, sounds and silence of nature, has drawn me into another series entitled Big Thicket 2008 – 2009.
The senses wake up in nature, the essence of my work. The air, water, vegetation, movement, light and color inspire me in their natural state. There is always uncertainty and surprise as well as serenity and peace. In my studio, reborn, I become water, memories, air, atmosphere, branches, trees, light, movement, stillness, color.
Painting, for me, is an emotional improvisation closest to choreographing a dance… movement, stillness, variation, texture, light color and composition. The work is highly charged, often obsessive.
My paintings lead and I follow. My hope is that the viewer continues in the dance of being there.
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