Each Spring, Susan Wallis the owner of Melt Studio and Gallery at Base 31 in Picton, curates a show of new and roster artists on the theme of Renewal. The resulting exhibitions present numerous interpretations of the theme in a wide variety of media and styles. Each year Kathleen prepares works that respond to the theme, while drawing on the current preoccupations of her practice.
For the 2025 renewal exhibition, Kathleen exhibited three oil on mylar pieces Daybreak, Noontide and Twighlight. Through abstracted land and sky-scapes these gestural oil paintings explore the temporal phases of daylight, and the balance between light and dark as a visual metaphor for life’s shifting cycles.
The joy of pure painting is emphasized through loose, gestural brushwork and the rendition of light through colour. The landscape is captured through a deep sense of space. Prismatic colour wheels are an important graphic element and establish tension within the composition. Together these visual and symbolic components represent the evolving intervals found in both nature and life.
In 2024, Kathleen submitted three pieces for the Renewal exhibition, Graceful, Refresh and Sancturary. Nature’s forces of growth and change are the central themes of these oil paintings on mylar. Flowers and natural specimens become metaphors for life’s evolutionary process. Calligraphic brush strokes, intense chroma, and open compositions form the language of these works. Forms float in large areas of negative space creating tension between the representation of nature, and the abstract quality of painting itself. The mystery and excitement of change is united with that of the creative process. It is a celebration of the world around, and the joyous expression of the act of pure painting.
In 2023, Kathleen selected works, entitled, New, Three Generations, and Nesting for the Renewal exhibition. These works were drawn from two series, In Her Nature, and Quiet Time that are part of Kathleen’s deeply personal exploration of the theme of renewal, rebirth and regrowth.
Personal objects and natural specimens ranging from fragile nests, budding cherry blossoms, to a faded vintage Christening gown and doilies narrate an intimate relationship with nature and life’s cycles. Meditative and gestural mark making, floating imagery, and still, haunting negative space combine to become the visual language of expression for the theme of renewal in these selected pieces.
