Kate Kiesler

Western River

2024

Kate Kiesler graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Illustration and subsequently illustrated over twenty books for children before pursuing painting full time. She has participated in the Colorado Governor’s Art Show, Estes Park Plein Air, and the American Impressionist Society’s National Juried Show among other venues. Kate grew up in rural Vermont and moved to Taos, NM where she found inspiration in the historical paintings done in the region and soon began to paint in that tradition. Her impressionistic work is widely collected around the country as well as incorporates surroundings. She now lives in the mountains of central Colorado. “My paintings are about the natural world around me. I am taken by the shapes and light found there. Details are unimportant. I am much more interested in conveying an interpretation through brushwork and the juxtaposition of value and color. My background in illustration focused on detail and on storytelling, so my paintings free me to play a little more—to create spontaneously without specific instruction and with a certain amount of abandon. My biggest challenge is to allow my pieces to evolve on their own without my thought processes interrupting the flow of things. My best work comes directly from freeing my mind and my hand and moving from shape to shape intuitively.”