Wild and Precious Life
January 5 - April 2, 2023 📍Confluence Gallery
ARTIST: Kat Corrigan
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, January 14th, 2023 from 5:00 - 7:00pm
Join Artistry, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Minnesota Valley Refuge Friends at the Confluence Gallery for the opening reception of Wild and Precious Life by Kat Corrigan Saturday, January 14th from 5:00pm-7:00pm. Corrigan uses the gaze of the animals she paints to interact with the viewer. She puts the faces of local wildlife in front of everyday people, hoping to create recognition and a moment in which the viewer has a small shock of discovery and connection.
Refreshments will be provided by the Minnesota Valley Refuge Friends. If you can't make it to the reception, her work will be available to view January 5th - April 2nd, during normal visitor center hours: Thursday-Sunday, 10am-4pm, closed on federal holidays.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
There is a gorgeous, throbbing, messy, animated world all around us, and I want to paint it. My landscapes are my attempts to show how I see the life in the trees, water, and rocks, and there are certain places I love to paint like Artist Point in Grand Marais, Lake Hiawatha, and the Mississippi River. I also love to paint the inhabitants of this landscape. To me, these animals represent the natural world that is being forced to live uncomfortably close to us as humans continue to populate and cut down forests to build houses. These creatures are our neighbors. They share our planet. It is the gaze they cast at the viewer that intrigues and troubles me. I see an intelligence there, some indistinct comprehension that I can’t quite translate. As I paint, I’ve always felt a deeper connection to my subject matter. I paint pet portraits, and I am sought after for them because of how I am able to pull some soul-feel out through my paint. When I paint a wild animal, I feel that same intangible familiarity. I’m sensing someone there, the spirit living behind those huge liquid eyes.
As a painter, it can sometimes be difficult to direct the impact my work has on my audience. However, with this series, I have been using the gaze of my animals to interact with the viewer. I am putting the faces of the local wildlife in front of everyday people. I hope to create a recognition there; a stopped second in which the viewer has a small shock of discovery and connection. I’d like to create numerous “I see you, I know you, I respect you” moments for people as they encounter these paintings. I also hope to inspire viewers to pause as they look at the water and spaces in my work and that they also understand life as connecting us all, surrounding us all, and holding us all together.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Award-winning Minneapolis-based artist Kat Corrigan’s work can be seen around the Twin Cities. Kat spends time at the Minnesota Zoo, in the woods, near the rivers, and lakes around the cities and greater Minnesota. She looks for animals and light, hopefully both at the same time. The otters, bears and wolves in this exhibition are all from the Minnesota Zoo, which she has loved visiting since it opened in 1977. Otters are one of her favorite animals and painting them underwater combines her love of otters and the mystery of water. Kat’s work has won awards and recognition in juried shows throughout the United States and has been widely collected in the US, England, Australia, Japan, Wales, and Lebanon. Her work can be found at Artistry in Bloomington, Spatial Effects Gallery in St Paul, Yellow Bird Gallery in Grand Marais and Duluth, Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe, the South Hyland Animal Hospital in Bloomington, and the Edina Pet Clinic.