Katherine Fraser
Katherine Fraser is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania. As a student, she received the Thomas Eakins Painting Prize, the Cecelia Beaux Portrait Prize, and the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Award, among others. Since graduation, she has been exhibiting throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally. Growing up in Maine as an only child, Katherine often finds that experience reflected in her work. Her subject matter draws from memories and experiences that feel, in some way, universal. By portraying singular figures in sparse settings, she explores the idea that being alone makes us feel most alive and connected to our true nature. She is represented by Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia.
Artist Statement
My paintings depict moments of quiet reflection and insight—of wonder, vulnerability, yearning, determination, humility, strength, and growth. I see a duality in every moment and beauty in the tension of opposing emotions existing within a single facial expression. Just as every person and experience is multifaceted, every painting is meant to express a dimensional idea. I am fascinated by the mutability of memory, the way emotions can shape perception, and how we unconsciously create narratives to understand our experiences and explain our identities.
I paint out of a sincere desire to respect, express, and share the tender qualities that unite us. With compassion and a generous heart, I seek to portray our continual need to reconcile expectations with truth and the struggles we endure to feel satisfaction with our choices. My goal is not just to create aesthetically beautiful paintings but to craft works that touch and resonate with the complexity of real-world experience.
What is your first memory of creating?
In the third grade, we had art class for only one hour a week. A teacher would come around with her cart, and we would do a very narrowly prescribed project. I remember one day the assignment was to draw a particular picture (pretty standard; I think there was a house and a tree), and she literally came around and told me that I was doing it wrong because I hadn’t followed her directions and put the elements of the composition where she had told us to. Even at eight years old, I remember thinking, “Lady, that’s not how you make art!” No wonder so many adults don’t feel that they know how to be creative!
What is your relationship to your medium? What draws you to it?
I somehow felt drawn to oil paint and knew it was for me as a teenager, even before I had tried it. I understood that it was what “real” paintings in museums were made of. Now, when people ask me if I also work in other mediums, I wonder, why? Oil paint can do everything. I feel like my lifetime will not be enough to master all that oil paint can do. I love that it can be transparent or three-dimensional in its application, that it has such vibrant color and luminosity, and that I can push it, mix it, wipe it, and even remove it once it is on the canvas. I think oil paint truly invites play.
What is the main thing you hope your audience takes away from your art?
Communication is 50% of why I paint. I want people to recognize their own vulnerability in my paintings. I want them to feel, to remember poignant experiences, and I want the viewer to feel seen in some way when they look at my work.
Tell us about a challenge you overcame last year.
Last year, I took a big step back from my work. After a huge solo show, I decided to take as many months off as necessary to think about why I hadn’t been feeling completely satisfied with the work I was making and my relationship to it. It was uncomfortable to stop myself from creating in the same way without having clear answers about what would come next. I’m still in the middle of that process.
What is your main goal or resolution for your art practice this year?
Now that I’m back to work and heading in a slightly new direction, I’m committed to giving myself all the time I need to take chances and get comfortable in this new path before I schedule my next show. I’m trying to approach all the places of resistance in my life holistically because everything I experience in my art practice translates into my personal life. My goal this year is to become my truest, most fearless self—both in and out of the studio!
