Kate Vrijmoet
Encyclopedia
Biography
Kate Vrijmoet began formal art studies at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, receiving a scholarship for two semesters of weekend courses while in high school (1982–1983). She went on to the School of Visual and Performing ArtsCrouse College, Syracuse University
Crouse College, also known as Crouse Memorial College and historically as John Crouse Memorial College for Women, is a building on the Syracuse University campus. It was funded by John R. Crouse, an "enormously wealthy Syracuse banker"...
at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, and was invited to teach there in 1994, earning her MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in 1997. In 2004 she studied painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
with Evelina Brozgul at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and with Richard Ryan at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
in 2005-2006. After recognition in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for her project, 50 Paintings in 50 Days, her work was curated into a group show receiving press in the New York Times and the New York Journal News
The Journal News
The Journal News is a newspaper in New York serving the suburban New York City counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam, a region known as the Lower Hudson Valley. It is owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. The Journal News was created through a merger of several daily community newspapers...
. In 2010 she had her first solo exhibition at the Center on Contemporary Art CoCA in Seattle, and was reviewed in the Seattle Times. Her painting, Shotgun Accident won third place in the 2010 Ecuador Biennale of Painting.
Work
Through painting and installations, Vrijmoet focuses on issues of consciousness, scale, admissibility and ownership. A student of anatomy since childhood, Vrijmoet has for three decades included life drawing in her daily practice. She is currently completing her Accident series and her Non-ordinary Reality series. In August, 2010, the Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle published a 42-page catalog for her solo show, Kate Vrijmoet: Essential Gestures. Shows in 2011 are scheduled at South Seattle Community CollegeSouth Seattle Community College
South Seattle Community College is a community college located in West Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1970, it is one of three colleges which make up the Seattle Community College District. Its programs include nursing , aviation, culinary arts, health care, horticulture, the construction trades...
and a solo show the LANN Museum in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Her profile was featured in the inaugural issue of the Huffington Post Art Section. In an interview in the science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily she says of her work, “People walk around in an automatic processing mode, using their perception or recognition or highly over-learned stimuli that requires little or no processing. I want to challeng this. I want to awaken the senses. When the painting provides kinesthetic feedback the viewer can, in a sense, feel what they’re seeing, wee what they’re hearing, hear what they’re feeling.”
In the catalogue essay, Elatia Harris writes of her work, “Any single image from the Accident series will freeze you where you stand. Motionlessly, you check yourself for parts and think, Oh, that’s the thing, the thing that happened to me, even if no one sees it. The Water paintings, on the other hand, will dislocate you – you are pulled, plunged and buoyed, seeing up and through and down.” Maine writer and art critic, Dan Kany, writes Vrijmoet’s work takes a “supremely anti-modernist stance – following the idea that Modernism doesn’t privilege the artist/author over the viewer.”