by Michele Malinchak
Katharine Krieg has been a professional artist for 30 years, though she really began making art when she was much younger. The story goes that one day when she was little more than a toddler, she disappeared from home. Though she doesn’t remember the event, her mother finally found her sitting across the street where she was drawing her house.
Still inspired by her surroundings, today she paints rural and marine landscapes and still life at her Green Lane, PA studio.
Her painting style is representational realism with accents of impressionism. She paints primarily in oils, but is also skilled in watercolor and charcoal.
Katharine’s still life paintings are narrative, each telling a story rather than merely showcasing objects. Many of the subjects in her paintings are birds and you get the feeling she knows each one personally. “I haven’t always been bird watcher,” she said, “but have enjoyed connecting with nature my whole life. I love watching and seeing that each bird has a personality.”
The birds are often paired with unlikely objects. They perch on pottery or sit quizzically next to glasses of water, whiskey, beer and even chocolate milk. There’s a softness to their form characterized by fine, controlled brush strokes making them appear incredibly real.
“Birds have fascinated people for eons and people have put them in myths and folklore,” she said. “They bring good luck (or bad) and act as messengers or guides. I like those stories and put some of this into my works. Like hidden eggs for the viewer to find and maybe put their own meaning towards.”
In her painting, “Time Capsule,” which was painted during the Covid lockdown, there is a nest containing two blue robin’s eggs which she said symbolize her two daughters. The passage of time is a recurring theme in her work.
During the pandemic, she also reconnected with the beauty and history of her immediate surroundings. “I was able to focus on the heritage of this area with its stone farmhouses and scenic countryside.”
Katharine’s landscapes are more direct, most of them painted plein air with looser brush work. She enjoys the immediacy of painting outdoors. “Eyes are much better than cameras,” she said. There’s both history and conversation taking place in a setting which she tries to convey in her work.
Her landscape, “Spring Visitor” was painted across the street from Phillips’ Mill in New Hope and depicts the English Village that Morgan Colt created in 1915. “He was a painter and an architect who loved the arts and crafts philosophy,” she said. “I saw the view in the fall but decided to take some artistic license with color to make it a spring scene. I found it a very inviting view and loved the shapes and angles and the way the trees overhang the space … It's nice when color, geometry and organic elements all come together.”
She keeps detailed sketchbooks with notes and plans many of her paintings before they are painted on museum board. Drawing has always been her first love.
The painting seen here, “Fountain,” was inspired by the 17th century Dutch artist Carel Fabritius whose piece depicts a life-sized chained goldfinch. “His bird was tied to a wall as a pet so I just thought I would let him go free and play in a fountain. Water heals and takes us places,” she said.
Water is a common theme in her work and to paint the still life, “Overflow,” she filled her bathroom sink to the brim. She rolled up a washcloth to simulate the shadow of the Indigo Bunting who perches on the faucet as water spills over. Above the sink is a copy of her daughter’s childhood drawing.
Katharine was born in Media, PA and raised in Philadelphia. She received her B.A. in art education at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in 1992. While there she worked as a puppeteer for a professor who made hand puppets and the two would put on shows.
She also received private instruction in the studio of artist Carlo Russo in Philadelphia. In addition, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, and at Chester Springs Studio, Chester Springs, PA.
She lived in Germany for three and a half years and travelled to other European countries where she saw a good deal of art.
In 1998 she moved to Montgomery County, PA and taught art at several facilities including The Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Arts in Bethlehem, PA for six years. She was also an instructor at Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, PA; at Phoenix Village Art Center, Phoenixville, PA and at Rockport Art Association and Museum, Rockport, MA. She has been an invited workshop instructor in Pennsylvania and Maine, teaching plein air and studio painting and drawing. Currently she teaches at Engage Art Studio in Schwenksville, PA. She also offers online workshops on Zoom which are posted on her website, katharinekrieg.com.
In 2018 she married artist Bradley Hendershot. The two painted on Monhegan Island, Maine for several years and shared a studio there. Today they share their Green Lane studio where each strengthens the other’s work. Neither one is shy about critiquing if something looks askew. Brad paints in watercolor in traditional realist style. His landscapes include scenes from coastal New England, rural Vermont and Pennsylvania. He grew up painting alongside his late artist father, Ray Hendershot, who was a huge inspiration to both Brad and Katharine. “He had such high standards,” Katharine said, “and was the best father-in-law.”
Those standards influence her today as she discards work she considers below par. They end up in a large drafting drawer called, ‘The Poultry.’ “It’s where the turkeys go,” she said. She often sands over paintings she doesn’t like and reuses the boards.
Many of her paintings, including Brad’s and his father’s, are available as prints through Stonerow Publishing, Inc. Started by Brad and Ray Hendershot, the company is now run by Brad and Katharine who make the high quality reproductions in their studio.
Between painting, teaching and the printmaking business, Katharine keeps a busy schedule. In March of each year she travels to Jeffersonville, Vermont for two weeks. The Jeffersonville Rendezvous, as it’s called, attracts artists from all over who congregate there to paint plein air.
Katharine has participated in national as well as regional juried shows and her work is found in collections across the U.S. Among the many awards she has received is the Jane Peterson Memorial Award for Still Life from the Hudson Valley Art Association’s 88th Annual Exhibition. She also won Best of Show Watercolor from the John James Audubon Center Annual Juried Exhibition.
Her work is represented by the following galleries: Patricia Hutton Galleries, Doylestown, PA; Strodes Mill Gallery, West Chester, PA; The Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA; Rockport Art Association, Rockport, MA; Lupine Gallery, Monhegan Island, ME; Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT and the Sidoti Gallery of Fine Art, Rockport, MA. Her work is also available at Katharine Krieg Studio, Green Lane, PA.
Katharine (now 54) has two grown daughters who also pursued art—one studied illustration and the other graphic design and visual communications. “Their artwork looks different than mine but we can speak in similar language.”
Her art is a response to her close observations of nature. “Where nature and art come together, that’s where I live,” she said. A place where, like it or not, she can’t turn off inspiration. “It never lets you be. The radar is always on. The worst thing to happen is to stop growing as an artist. Not feeling the chase or the excitement—to eat, sleep and breathe art. For me art is to make something beautiful that speaks to the soul. I hope to do justice to what I paint.”
(bio)
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer who has a degree in art and enjoys oil painting.