Katherine Hester Artist / Art Instructor
About
I taught art history, studio art and science for over ten years before leaving the traditional classroom to pursue painting full time. I paint everyday and teach students of all ages in watercolor, oil and acrylic. My body of work is varied and reflects my time spent teaching.
Illumination sparks my creativity- the play between illuminated shapes in a horse race that capture the movement and energy of the scene, the reflected light from the horse's downward facing flanks, or ballerinas as they dance in and out of stage light, the fleeting light on the lowcountry landscape at sunrise, sunset, and riding along the edges of storm fronts.
Telling a story with light in my paintings is my ultimate goal.
Working in Mixed Media to Create Soulful Portraits
Our family moved from Mt. Pleasant to the peninsula of Pinopolis, SC, which is a hidden gem of the lowcountry. The village of Pinopolis is sprinkled with homes dating back to the early to mid 1800’s. The rich history and secluded beauty of Pinopolis drew me in and my family made the move.
One day while rummaging around the attic of my family’s mid 1800s home, I discovered a stack of antique books. The spines and covers were ruined, but a quick check inside indicated that these relics dated back to the early 1800s. Thumbing through them, it was clear that these books were more useful in their parts than as a whole.
I began experimenting with the methods to use the weathered pages in portrait collages. The patina of one page, coupled with the font of another page, combined with the heavy typeface of a third page all merged with a purpose. It was gratifying to discover that angling the lines of prose in a certain way created a hairline, cheekbone or jawline.
At last came the realization that the subject matter of a given page in just the right spot created a fun game of hide-and-seek for the keen observer, a literal tongue-in-cheek statement.
My models are mostly women who have a fierce look to them, and together with a modern color palette, the overall impression would be incongruent were it not for the antique vellum’s reminder that every woman is a literal amalgamation of her thoughts, the books she has read, the words she speaks and the words that are spoken to her. Her character is that uncovered through a lifetime of pages, bound together to create a voice of memories.
This creative outlet soon grew to incorporate other repurposed items into portrait collages, with music memorabilia being the first reiteration of the medium. Music posters, cassette covers, and concert tickets were the medley that collided to create a nostalgic, if sometimes gritty, overall impression.
I’ve enjoyed creating commissioned portrait collages that include important aspects of the client’s life, like travel destinations and noteworthy experiences that they wish to memorialize in a unique and unexpected way. A patchwork of sentimental trinkets like ticket stubs to the Louvre, restaurant receipts, maps of Parisian arrondissements, and plane tickets become a stylish French woman. Prose from Shakespeare, tickets stubs from St. Paul’s, and pub menus transform into a refined English lady.
Experimenting in this way with different objects and keepsakes has been a rewarding challenge, but most of all, it has been fun.
I love to imagine my “vellum ladies” or “parchment princesses” on display in homes, bringing added layers of interest to the lives of families and penning another chapter of the book that is life.
Commission Your Own Portrait Collage And Tell Your Story
