Portfolio
"Little Wonders"
July - August 2024
“Little Wonders” carries themes of whimsy, nostalgia, and fun. An uncharacteristic but boldly intentional inclusion of miniature illustrations brings an unprecedented level of playfulness, surprise, and humor. Some iconically Vineyard, others universally magical, all are infused with a feeling of time standing still. Each painting juxtaposes smooth gradients with precise still lives to meld the feeling of childhood joy with the adult knowledge that the happiest times in our lives can be pin-pointed to these small moments, and remembering who was by our side when they happened.
Each Little Wonder is paired with a haiku, to add emphasis to the big impact of small things.
"nEXt"
March - June 2024
In an unprecedented Taylor Swift-esc moment, I subconsciously painted a series about the agonizing nature of dating. Created over the past 3 months (throughout my last failure-to-launch) each painting was painstakingly painted one color at a time, from left to right, each overlapping with the previous. Soon enough, I realized this practice was hilariously reminiscent of a sequence of dates in an effort to get to know someone new. It wasn’t until each piece was complete that hindsight allowed me to see the whole thing clearly. I wound up with paintings that symbolize the kinds of people my single friends and I are sick of wasting our time on. Each got “x-ed” with the very thing that held it together all along - the tape around the edges - where I wrote the word that popped into my head once I realized what each represented. All except the largest one… read on for why.
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HOMECOMING
January - March 2024
Her first solo show since moving back to her home state of Connecticut, “Homecoming” is Katie Southworth’s celebration of so much more than a move.
Themes of independence, openness, transition, softness, and the sublime have made their way from Katie’s newfound lifestyle into this new series, in which she explores what it means to return to the self in a way that yields true holistic health and wellness. Inspired by the self-love of early rising, habitual living, natural dopamine, peaceful solitude, new connections, and vulnerability, “Homecoming” captures what it feels like to be both in power and at peace with unprecedented independence.
Low Lights Series
November - December 2023
2023 was really hard for me. This past fall/winter, after all the life changes and various impediments to my creativity, seasonal depression and burn out hit me pretty hard. I struggled to create. I practically forced myself to paint this series out of desperation to keep my head and heart above water. It is smaller than typical because that's all I could take on, and I feel proud to have honored my limits. Little did I know, however, that the sizes would also help me drive home an important point about mental health:
To me, this series is about gratitude for the power of attention to small things. When you're going through it, it's easy to only notice that bad, and what's going wrong. But, if you actively pay attention to the gratitudes and joys that come along, however small they may be, it's possible to hardwire your brain to get back to a healthier place. In other words, they may be small, but added up, they create big change. Each piece honors a small thing that helped (helps) rewire my head. The Lights during my Lows.
The Sound Mind Series
July - August 2023
Martha's Vineyard has always been my refuge to restore my own sound mind. This summer, Mariner Gallery in Edgartown invited me to be their resident artist. I had the joy of creating this body of work in the gallery between July 17th and August 17th. I was inspired by the healing power of the Vineyard's nature, Mariner Gallery's collection, the book Blue Mind by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, and recent massive changes in my personal life. Themes of solitude, healing, peace, and the ocean's involvement in all of above emerge in this cohesive and monochromatic collection.
The Reflections Series
April - May 2023
This series is inspired by self love, authenticity, being honest with yourself, bravery, heartbreak, and the way human nature is reflected within nature itself. Sometimes life moves so fast you lose your grip, people grow up or change, and circumstances put you between a rock and hard place. And you have two choices: adapt or suffer. The healing power of nature, loved ones, or actual mirrors to reflect back to us what our bodies already know in these times is what inspired these pieces to emerge.
The Evolve Series
January - February 2023
Released on my 29th birthday, 2/14/23, this series is inspired by positive and negative emotions surrounding the passing of time, growing older, and what it means to truly evolve into one’s best self. New Year and birthdays, (which have always occurred close together for me), always kick up themes of reflection, growth, goals, affirmations, and transitions, which are explored aesthetically throughout the collection, including with the use of new materials such as glass and light.
2022 Commissions
January - December 2022
All my commissions are collaborations between myself and my clients. I take great joy in offering my skills to represent their energies, feelings and stories through art.
Transcendence Series
August - October 2022
This body of work was completed between August and October of 2022, inspired by multiple recent experiences of elevation. In September, I moved my whole life to be closer to a brand new, massive warehouse studio, all for the purpose of elevating my career. There was a surge of emotion that came with this big investment. Then, I had a life changing trip to Albuquerque where I got to check off a bucket list item of attending the International Hot Air Balloon Festival, which, of course, spiked my inspiration as well. My creativity is at an all time high, which is why three new styles are represented in this new collection.
Little Big Things
August 2022
This series was inspired by the enormous power of gratitude for the small, simple things in life. A blooming bud, bobbing boats, a sweet snack. Applying mindfulness to these small simple pleasures makes them into big things that color our lives with joy and awareness. Being present in a small moment creates a memory with the people around you. Those memories are like storage pods of joy and perspective when you need them in dark moments. Most importantly, realizing you can create more makes you excited to wake up in the morning.
This series was featured at Superfine Art Fair NYC in September 2022.
Vineyard Musings
August 2022
I have been coming to Martha's Vineyard every year since before I was born. It’s where my parents met, and it feels more like home to me than anywhere else. These paintings are all inspired by unique Vineyard things that have brought me joy and inspiration throughout the years. This is the first time I have made a series inspired by the island in my career as a full-time, contemporary artist. For me, it celebrates the way the Vineyard inspires and heals all who are lucky enough to spend time there.
Divergence Series
April - May 2022
This series was an intentional attempt to break my process and push my limits. I went larger, tried brand new techniques, and used old materials in new ways. I worked faster than ever and slower than ever. The resulting work continues to inspire work I made throughout the rest of 2022.
Emergence Series
April - May 2022
This series puts an extra emphasis on the power of vertical line to lift our chins, spirits, hearts, and minds. This is a belief of mine that has been reinforced by a newfound love of practicing yoga. By more consistently focusing inward mentally, and stretching outward physically, I was inspired to literally add another dimension to my work. This is the first time I have worked with three dimensional elements. Altogether, the series is reminiscent of life’s out of body experiences that help new dimensions of possibility, peace, and personal growth emerge.
Unseen Light Collection
January - February 2022
This entire collection was made during a month long painting trip to South Florida with my partner, Joe Taveras. Driven by a desire to push my vision into new stylistic realms, I allowed myself to be rejuvenated by nature, warmth, and new visual input. I leaned in to creating outside the comfort zone of my studio, and wound up with a collection inspired by all the unseen light of the world. This collection was showcased in a one-night pop up show in the heart of Delray Beach's arts district, at which 5 pieces sold to private collections.
"So much of the world can neither be sensed nor perceived. We are bound by the limits of our sensory capabilities - our eyes can only see the visible light spectrum and our ears can only hear select frequencies. Despite these limitations, all of those unseen phenomena remain present. With ‘Unseen Light’, we aimed to hint at the invisible with a variety of artworks that feature light illusions, fluorescent color, and iridescence. Our hope is that this body of work awakens your sense of wonder for what lies beyond our perception."
2021 Commissions
January - December 2021
Each commission is a collaboration between my client and myself. It's a joy to use my skills to help my clients express their own energies, feelings, and stories through art.
Defining Moments
December 2021
All the inspiration for this entire body of work came from self reflection and journaling on my experience of 2021. It was a big, beautiful, colorful blur of massive change, tremendous growth, and self actualization. Most significantly, it was the year I left my full time job to pursue my art career full time. In a way, these paintings are like mirrors, reflecting these defining moments of my year and my life as they exist in me. In my memory. The blurry texture juxtaposed to the few crisp lines touches at the way even our best memories are a bit hazy, with specific details that remain crystal clear. I hope this work invites others to reflect on their own defining moments and stay inspired to create more as we head into 2022.
Colorjoy
September 2021 - December 2021
This collection was made specifically for my first solo show in New Canaan CT at New Canaan Gallery and Frame, which was on diplay from November 5th - December 1st 2021. It combines influences from antichromaphobia and the shine series with a focus on the power of joyful color.
"To me, color is like an essential food group. A pillar of holistic health. My work is my argument for its revitalization. Consume it daily, and it will give you the correct energy you need for the day. In our world, color is proof of life, energy, and vibrancy. It’s truly the simplest thing we have with which to create joy. However, through the eye of the needle there is truly a universe. Welcome to my universe."
The Joy Wall
April 2021 - October 2021
This wall is a collection of mini, free-hand painted color studies I started making back in April. I wanted a new way to study exciting, joyful, high contrast, fully saturated color combinations in an immediately gratifying way, without the rate limiting factors of tape and drying times between layers. What resulted was a massive wall of joy. I don’t know if I’m done with the Joy Wall, but these originals represent a shift in my practice that focuses on joy that I wanted to share with you. Every piece is numbered in chronological order, which made it possible for me to realize that I inadvertently returned to similar color palettes over the months I painted them, resulting in several extremely satisfying triptychs, that I decided to install in rows. The fourth mini in each row is a piece that I feel also fits well with the preceding triptych, but is also fully satisfying on their own. I invite you to have some fun finding your favorite colors within it, and letting the abundance of color boost your mood.
The Shine Series
July 2021 - September 2021
"Keep your face always towards the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you" - Walt Whitman
This series is about honoring the simple things in life that contribute more greatly to our happiness than we may realize, often that we take for granted. Sunshine, a new bloom, the glow of the moon - they are sacred and deserve our attention and mindful focus when they present themselves in order to fuel our mental well being. That is why each piece in this series is highly minimalistic and adorned with a single strip of either silver or gold leaf.
Antichromaphobia
April 2021 - May 2021
This body of work celebrates the power of color as a source of energy, and as a gateway to true bursts of joy in everyday life. These pieces are offerings created in service of combatting "chromaphobia" - a term coined by David Batchelor that refers to a tendancy for Western society to avoid bright, vivid color for fear of being seen as childish, unsophisticated, or grotesque. In response, my Antichromaphobia pieces fearlessly juxtapose invigorating color with my signature calming lines in order to give people the best of both worlds: happy, life-giving, stimulating color, with relaxing, sophisticated composition. This series is my response to the beginning of the end of the pandemic, the global mental health crisis it has induced, and the realization that we all need more sources of guaranteed joy on a daily basis.
This series is comprised of some large works, but mostly of small, 6"x6" pieces that work together to form "The Joy Wall". The Joy Wall is still growing to this day.
Flocean
March 2021
This body of work is inspired by my deep love and gratitude for the ocean as well as my passion for promoting mindfulness and joy through color. This process and the resulting pieces celebrate the massive healing power of the ocean and the color blue. Spending time near the ocean is an incredible catalyst to achieve a state of flow, in which clear-minded decisions, creativity, and inner peace are all achievable. Each piece is an invitation to allow the flowy, oceanic pattern - "flocean" - to ease your mind, heal your soul, and, ultimately, achieve clarity.
2020 Commissions
April 2020 - December 2020
These images are depictions of all 14 commissions I completed in 2020. They now have permanent homes in 6 states (10 cities) across the United States. These pieces were inspired by mood boards, simple fabric swatches, ocean photography, other artist's work, and personal memory. These are the first commissions I have ever taken for abstract oil paintings.
2021 Valentine Series
January 2021
I was born on Valentine's Day. Every year, I'm inspired by sharing the day with a celebration of love itself. And every year, I am grateful to have a perfect excuse to give as much love back as I receive. This year is the first year I have had access to my own studio, so I wanted to build a series inspired by love. In other words, this series aims to give all that love back, in my own colorful, visual language. In 2021 I turn 27, so I created 27 original pieces, most small enough to suffice as perfect little Valentine's Day gifts.
Autumn 2020 Series
October 2020
These pieces were all made during the month of October 2020. They are a celebration of the colors of Autumn and were inspired by memories from various New England outdoor excursions.
Found Oceans Series
February 2020 - June 2020
This series is inspired by my collection of ocean photography that I find and rip out of magazines. Each piece is painted in response to an individual strip of ocean photography. This series continues to aid my argument that the ocean is not blue: it is natures greatest mirror, and at any moment, is simply the color of the light around it.
The Originals
September 2015 - May 2016
This collection was created during my senior year at Colby College. The emergence of this work was when I first found my true artistic voice, style, and higher purpose. These paintings represent my beginning, my starting point, my breakthrough as an artist. As such, these originals are not for sale, however prints can be made available upon request.