Kate Rivers is a professional artist born in Youngstown, Ohio. Rivers graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design and earned an MFA in painting and printmaking at The University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. Her work is in numerous private collections throughout the United States. Rivers is represented in the 2010 and 2012 West divisions of New American Paintings.

Among her public solo shows are: City Arts in Oklahoma City, Fort Worth Community Arts and Living Arts in Tulsa. Her work was featured in “Art on the Edge” at the New Mexico Museum of Art in their New Contemporary Art Wing. Among her numerous solo gallery shows are Matthews Gallery, David Anthony Fine Arts, ArtSpace 111, and Gallery 901. Her work is in public collections at The Baatan Building in Santa Fe, UNM, Central New Mexico Community College, Eastern New Mexico University, USAO in Oklahoma, University of Texas at Austin and many numerous public venues throughout the US.

After teaching at the collegiate level in Oklahoma, Kate Rivers left a tenured position in order to work as a full time artist in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

ARTIST STATEMENT:
“I am a mixed media painter that heavily incorporates found materials. A recurrent theme in my work is the image of a nest. The nest is a powerful metaphor suggesting comfort, home, protection and family. My work is constructed of layers of text, ephemera and oil stick creating dense patterns while exploring social and political issues. The work also addresses the human compulsion to collect things that can often add meaning to our lives reflecting past memories and events. I gather stuff from garage or estate sales, second hand stores, posters from urban areas and simply trash. Some of the materials I use are a variety of maps, old typed or hand written letters, canceled postage stamps and clothing tags. Clothing tags are especially seductive because they are frequently well designed and suggest issues of class and the compulsion to collect. In addition, I incorporate items of whimsy and reflections of the everyday. I often feel like a voyeur looking into the lives of others long past and reflecting on their lives.”