Daily Inspiration: Meet Kathy OConner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy OConner.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Starting with traditional life drawing training at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, I developed my passion for creating expressive works. The Academy promoted a very disciplined art practice deferring to great masters like Nicolai Fechin, John Singer Sargent, and Mary Cassat. This gave me a strong basis for my art in drawing, composition, and color theory.

However, there wasn’t much tolerance (at that time) for expressionist and abstract work. For me, that came much later. Once my daughter was in high school, I explored intuitive art with Aviva Gold in Painting from the Source workshops. I found a new way of expressing myself through intuitive art. An exciting merging of representational and abstract concepts. From this work, I developed my own workshop for children and adults, Paint Like Crazy.

These expressionist art sessions allowed participants to paint from their own feelings and subconscious associations.

A marvelous stress reliever without the pressure of creating something “good.” The Lakewood Cultural Center in Colorado hosted my workshops for a year as part of its curriculum.

Depending on what else was going on in my life, I’ve painted, explored different media, took workshops, and had a few shows, commissions, teaching, and mural work.

In December 2021, I had the very clear realization that it was now or never to become the artist I was always meant to be. Now I have returned to my passion for expressive art using acrylic and mixed media with a focus on expressing emotions.

My life experience gives me a wealth of inspiration to express the emotions of living a full life. Love and loss, grief and joy—-for myself and others. This is my mission now: to capture those emotions which cannot be defined by representational art in an authentic and unique way.

Music is a well-established memory trigger. Nothing defines us like the music of our youth. A study published by Music & Science discovered that music that was in the charts during one’s adolescence was not only rated as more familiar but was also associated with more autobiographical memories. Often songs will inspire my work, which you may recognize in the titles of my work. Other times, I will complete a painting and I’m surprised it represents the emotion of an “oldie but goodie” and the memories it triggers.

Priorities shift as life unfolds and this gives us a wealth of subject matter that perhaps, now is the best time to express through art. In December 2022, I was awarded an Artist in Residency for Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District.

This provides me with full-time studio space at Lakewood United Methodist Church. (LUMC). Undergoing a huge transformation, LUMC is more than a church. It is host to affordable artist studio space, housing Jeffco Eats food bank, Fiesta Colorado Dancers, Colorado Children’s Chorale, Baila Conmigo, and Huitzilopochtli Indigenous and Aztec Dancers. I’m thrilled to be part of this artistic community that is doing so much for the West Colfax corridor.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The gift of studio space at LUMC has been an incredible blessing. The support of 40West Arts District and the Colorado Womens Caucus for the Arts has provided outlets for creating and showing my work.

Like most artists, selling works and actually making a living at art is challenging. There are still those people who support the arts by buying something, not just admiring it. Some have said to me, “I don’t have room for any paintings.” But art should be bought because you enjoy the piece and want to support the artist. I can always find a place for a piece of art that speaks to me. As a collector and artist, I buy pieces to enjoy, not necessarily to decorate.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Many of my works are inspired by music. Lots of painters paint with music in the background, but for me, music is often the basis of my abstract work.

Songs evoke memory and emotion and that is what I transfer to the canvas. If you know the song by Foreigner, “Feels Like the First Time”—trying to capture that excitement in color and texture is invigorating and challenging. It doesn’t always work. I have plenty of gessoed-over canvas to show for it. But when it works, well…it feels like the first time.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
There’s a lot of talk about NFTs. Many don’t think this is going to be good for the artist, but there’s a lot of debate.

We shall see.

There will be more online sales. So much relies on social marketing and email lists. I wonder how sustainable that is.

Where galleries used to take a percentage and do all the marketing that is hardly the case now. Most of my artist friends are in co-ops where you pay to be a member, have shows, and help with the grunt work of running a gallery.

The upside is seeing more art districts emerge, like 40 West, RiNo, and Santa Fe Drive. SCFD and tax dollars help make these communities more desirable. It’s good for everyone.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.kathyoart.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/kathyoart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathyoconnerart
• Other: https://www.wcaco.org/copy-of-kathy-oconner

Image Credits
Rick Finbow