I love the natural world, and look for parts of nature that have weathered and stood the test of time. Wood, Bone, shell, dried plants and rusted metal. So many small natural objects have a beauty that goes largely unnoticed. As I travel, and at home in the Pacific Northwest, I collect these special pieces, which for me have a unique beauty or tell a story. I then incorporate the objects into cotton linters, abaca and other natural papers to create art works that capture and preserve their beauty and story.
Recently, I have become fascinated by the diverse species of seaweed that grow in the waters of the Northwest. There is joy in walking the beach at low tide to collect new pieces of seaweed that I will then take to the studio to wash, dry, and sculpt into my work.
Most of the work I do is intentional — I sculpt and paint with natural materials — but sometimes, there is serendipity at play, or the universe coming through on its own terms.
Closest to my philosophy in art, and indeed, the passion that drives my creative and personal life, is the Japanese concept of Wabe-Sabi.
Though difficult to define, Leonard Koren, in his book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, describes it as: The beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. The beauty in inconspicuous and overlooked details.
Biography
Katherine Michaels started her art career as a sculptor of stone and bronze. From 1988 to 1991 she owned and operated a bronze foundry on the Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle. There she produced her sculptures using the ancient art of lost wax casting. Her work often combined bronze with inlaid stone. In 1990, a video was produced about Katherine's bronze sculpture, titled Embryo: the Art of Lost Wax Casting, showing this alchemical and poetic process set to the chanting, drum and flute music of Carlos Nakai. This video has beenpurchased and shown by schools and museums across the country. It is available to watch on Vimeo.
After suffering from toxic effects of the foundry process, Katherine moved on to work in a softer medium. She now creates artistic vessels and wall pieces from natural materials, cotton linters, and abaca. The colored papers she uses are handmade by women’s cooperatives in Zimbabwe. There the women gather fibers from around the village and make sheet papers under the trees. These papers are often colored by local, natural dyes. The fibers might include elephant or giraffe dung processed by the animal and washed clean for making the final paper. Katherine re-pulps them to create two and three dimensional pieces of art.