ABOUT: Kathryn Fortson is an award-winning artist who exhibits and sells her work internationally. Her paintings and prints are collected by  corporate and private patrons.  She was formally trained in Painting and Illustration at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, followed by further training in Fine Art Painting at University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. This artist’s early prints are published worldwide and represent a whimsical, illustrative body of work.  In recent years, she has focused her inspiration on abstract painting.  Acrylics, canvas, paper, graphite, and pastels are Fortson's most frequently chosen mediums.  The artist gravitates to the versatility of acrylic paint, which especially allows her to create washes of color, goops, layers, lines and solid applications.  These are aspects of her signature, classic abstract paintings. Kathryn Fortson has participated in countless juried exhibitions, has gallery representation throughout the southern United States, and frequently accepts commission projects for private and public spaces.  Corporate collectors include IHG, Infinity, HGTV and Cushman Wakefield, to name a few.  The artist currently lives, and maintains her private studio, in Roswell, Georgia.  

STATEMENT: "For me, the process of abstract painting begins with connecting to a state of being, or maybe, connecting to an emotion.  This might involve merging my sense of being with an object or element in nature:  to be a shell… or to be a blade of grass in the wind... And, if not a tangible thing, I often connect to states of emotion.  Can feelings like happiness form movement?  Would it form line, depth, shadows?  How might laughter play with colors and light?  When I am painting, I don't really think about what brush to pick up, or color to mix.  It is as though my connected state, and my painting skills have their own dance.  It is a little bit meditative, a little bit dissociative, and a lot of surrendering.  I hope my work evokes curiosity, and perhaps encourage a different outlook or perspective… maybe nudge the viewer to bypass one's typical interpretations and open to the intangible energy an art piece may offer.”

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