Kathryn Mason‘s interest in art began to blossom during her senior year at Sheboygan North High School. Some of the project’s she co-created a large scale mural titled, “Take A Walk on the Creative Side” with Kellie Schultz, class of 2009 and organized the art department’s first senior art exhibition titled, “Dexterity”. Since then volunteered at the Frank Juarez Gallery (summer 2011&2012), will be graduating from UW-Stevens Point with a Major in Arts Management and a minor in Business Administration, and just returned from doing an externship in London, and has been hired to be the Summer Gallery Manager at the McGregor-Marquette Center for the Arts in McGregor, Iowa.
Today, Kathryn stopped by to talk to my Advanced Painting/Drawing II and Art Foundations 4 students about her art-filled journey in London. Along with being an aspiring artist she has her goals set on opening her own art gallery in the near by future.

I have asked her to share her artist statement as well as life goals after graduation. This is what she had to say…
Artist Statement
Art is passion and desire, love and disgust, faith and fear. It is pure emotion put into physical form to stimulate the eyes and work the brain, but first and foremost it deserves to be shared.
Emotions are what drive my creativity. Simple everyday events that touch my soul inspire me to create. They alter my mood in just the right way and an idea is formed. The overall genre of my art is abstraction. I create what I feel. Sometimes it can be depicted as an actual form and other times it is the overall flow of the painting that brings the piece together.

“Love Me Not”
The main purpose of my art is to bring out an emotion from the viewer. Whether it is positive or negative, I believe the purpose of art is to draw an emotion from deep inside. The viewer should think deeply about the true meaning and emotion behind the work, even if they don’t understand it. That’s the beauty of art, there is no right or wrong, it is whatever you make of it.
Plans for Life after College
Kathryn’s long-term academic and vocational goal would be to use her degree in arts management to open a gallery of her own. She wishes to make a statement in the art world and give artists a voice. She plans to provide a forum for all types of art, allowing an opportunity for artists to speak up and show the world what they are capable of producing. If she can accomplish this, while also opening the eyes of individuals from different backgrounds so that they can open their hearts and let art touch their souls, she would have succeeded.
This summer she will be working as the Gallery Manager at the McGregor-Marquette Center for the Arts in McGregor, Iowa. Her main tasks will include running the retail space in the gallery, developing a children’s program, and developing 5 new events for the center over the summer.