ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My art is rooted in what I observe in my natural and dream worlds. Like a child, I am curious about and inspired by everything around me. My imagination can be captured with equal intensity by a stone, a feather, a poem, a broken bowl, a person or an animal or even the movement of the wind or water. I will admit, though, that I like color best.

Creating my personal images is similar to writing in a journal in terms of the healing power of coming to know myself more deeply. I strongly feel the connective power of revealing my inner story of discovery by sharing my work with others. Through art we can find common ground.

The physical act of working with fiber (cloth, thread, floss, yarn, paper, etc.) allows me to experiment with what I want to communicate. Fiber work also seems to connect me to generations of women and men who expressed themselves and their lives with needle and thread.

Being a very tactile person adds another layer of enjoyment to painting on, printing on, sewing into, gluing, and otherwise manipulating and embellishing my materials into both figurative and abstract compositions. Working with my hands to express how my heart has responded to something is exciting and satisfying.

I hope my audience will connect with me, with their creative inner child, and with the artist within themselves through the experience of engaging with my work.

Kathleen L. Oettinger

WHO AM I?

My kindergarten teachers created an “excellence in art award” for me for my graduation to first grade.  I’ve been making art ever since.

I have lived up and down the East Coast of the United States and am now settled in Las Vegas, NV.  I’ve taught art to every age group from 3-5 year-olds through college classes and to retirees and have loved, and learned from, all my students. 

As a member of the Women’s Caucus for Art I had opportunities to exhibit, curate art exhibitions and to represent that group as a chapter president, National Board member, and as a non-governmental delegate to the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995.

I have worked as art editor for the poetry magazine, Visions, International, Black Buzzard Press, Falls Church, VA, and for the publication, Presence; An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, published by Spiritual Directors International.

I received my BFA in printmaking from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, and my MFA in studio art from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.  My favorite honor was being selected as the 1993 Feature Artist for the Contemporary Finnish-American Artist Series sponsored by Finlandia University, Hancock, MI.