Kathleen Vaughan, Visual Art - www.akaredhanded.com











Download Kathleen Vaughan's Curriculum Vitae (PDF - 333K)

If you're an art lover, collector, dealer or gallery owner looking for work to buy, exhibit, or in some other way explore, or if you wish to commission an original piece, please take a good look at these pages. They offer a representative sample of my recent visual creations and their exhibition histories, as well as some discussion of my work's background.

For further information, please contact me. I show my work regularly and would be delighted to add your name to my mailing list.

I work in mixed media, incorporating just about any technique that can be smeared, stitched, or stapled onto wall-mounted canvas. Frequently, my work requires that I teach myself new processes in order to realize my vision. So while I was trained in drawing, painting, and photography, I've now picked up some basics of textile and sculptural techniques, including smocking, felting, textile construction, mouldmaking and casting, and carving.

The Embodied Series
© Kathleen Vaughan, 1998

I usually create series of visual works linked by theme: for instance, the experience of place; wounding and healing; cycles of death and rebirth; and family and identity. A series can include four to six large pieces ('large' meaning of a scale to incorporate a life-sized human figure) and multiple companion small pieces, all exploring the theme from various vantage points. Given the size of my work and its layered complexity, a series can take a year or more to research and complete. However, I also undertake single pieces: portraits of individuals or places (a special garden, for example) or whimsical one-offs for a group or collective show.

The Bog Series
© Kathleen Vaughan, 1996

Click on images for a description.

My work tends to be expressive and perhaps even romantic -- in the art-history sense of imbued with enthusiasm for art and its making. Naturally enough, my visual work reflects my beliefs in the redemptive powers of art, in art's ability to engage us on deep levels with -- even teach us about -- profound human truths. My work is also informed by intellectual concerns, grounded in research, and sieved through the cultural studies of my graduate work at Concordia University.

I enjoy writing about my visual work. Often, an exhibition is accompanied by a related piece of writing -- a personal essay, for example, incorporating a description of my process and revisiting related theoretical interests. My visual practice is also the wellspring for my teaching as a visiting artist in elementary and secondary schools.

Some of my pieces include recognizable imagery -- family and archival photos, medical images, drawn and painted figures and forms, text and textile elements, sculptural castings.

These works include:

Elvis/David
Eat Me
The Bog Series
The Heirloom Series
Heirloom Revisited
and various individual portraits (David/Elvis, for example).

Other works, including The Embodied Series are abstract, and revel in colour and surface.

Recently, my work has taken a turn towards landscape, inspired by my long daily ravine walks with my dog, Auggie.

Writing • Visual Art • Teaching • Profile • Auggie

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All original artwork and texts: © Kathleen Vaughan, 2000-2008, except where otherwise noted. 'redhanded' text-based logo design: © Dale Barrett, 1997. 'redhanded' logo photo: © Paul Buer, 1996. • All Rights Reserved

No part herein may be reproduced, modified or used in any way without explicit written permission.