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Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Kathleen O’Brien to Demonstrate Botanical Collage at Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
On Friday, September 5, Kathleen O’Brien of Harrodsburg will demonstrate how she creates botanical collages by layering unusual papers and her own dried botanicals from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.
Kathleen was born in Yokasuka, Japan, where both her parents were stationed in the U.S. Army. She and her family moved around a great deal and when she was between the ages of three and seven, her family was living in Italy. It was during this time that Kathleen’s grandfather took the family on a grand tour of Europe. Since her grandfather owned a paper box company, everywhere they traveled in Europe, he was buying unusual and exotic papers to take home. It was during this trip that Kathleen began to be enamored with paper.
When her grandfather retired, he became an artist and taught Kathleen how to paint. She studied art for two years at Rosary Hill College in Buffalo NY, and continued to paint in oils whenever she could. After her second child was born, Kathleen began taking art classes at night at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. There she became an assistant to professor and painter Bill Newman.
In 1999, Kathleen moved to land adjacent to Shakertown, where she designed, and her husband Greg and their son built their home. Surrounded by rolling fields and meadows, Kathleen began to gather, press and preserve native flowers and botanicals that she found. Her interest in natural healing and plants led her to establish borders of herbs, flowers and shrubs as well as swaths of grasses. Her love of nature and art came together when she began working with water mediums, layering unusual papers, along with her own dried botanicals – to design richly detailed paper paintings, cards and installation works.
Kathleen is a juried member of the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program - Visual Arts at the Market, and recently participated with the Kentucky Arts Council at the Philadelphia Buyers Market. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, and is on the Board of the Society of Layerists in Multi-Media.
Works by Kathleen O’Brien can regularly be found at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, located at 975 Walnut Meadow Road, just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from over 100 counties from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov
The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet.
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