Artist of the Month: Kathy Arend

Kathy has been drawing ever since she could hold a pencil. When she wasn’t drawing, she was hanging out and reading in the library where her mother was the librarian. She retired after 30 years of teaching art in Fairbanks, AK. Although she may be retired on paper, Kathy still teaches many classes for the Fine Arts Guild and loves to show one the library she has created. If Kathy has a pencil and paper in her hand, she will draw. She draws from her imagination, and lately, from the pictures that she took on her summer vacation.

When I talk about Kathy, I think of the verb “to draw” in three of its definitions. The first is the usual definition when we think with an artist, which is making a drawing with pencil and paper. However, there are also two other definitions, such as to attract and to extract. Kathy easily attracts a novice by pointing out the nuances of a painting or drawing that makes it eye catching while teaching them a few of the finer rules of art. Most will leave Kathy with a greater appreciation of art and start to look at paintings or even clouds through different eyes. If someone states “I can’t draw, not even a stick figure,” but is willing to spend a little time with Kathy, she will extract that fiber of an artist we all have within us.

Although Kathy doesn’t put her artwork on show at the Fine Art Guild Studio, she has numerous sketchbooks containing her works over the years. Stop by Studio II when Kathy is monitoring or doing an Art Gathering. She will be glad to draw you into the world of art which she loves. @