Portrait of the artist as a young woman
“This is probably my favorite,” says Katherine Gagnon ’11 as she points to one of the wood panel paintings that hangs in the painting studio in Bixler.
The workspace surrounding Gagnon is tiny: on the glass surface of a table, a rainbow of different oils spatter from recent use; shriveled tubes of paint lie askance, heavily crinkled from having been used down to the very last drop; geometric sketches are taped to every available surface, and Gagnon’s signature sprawls across a scrap of paper pinned to the wall.
“That one, right up there,” she says. Although Gagnon looks toward the wall covered with many of her recent oil paintings, her eyes look through one in particular: a square maroon painting with nuanced shades and the ghostlike presence of geometric shapes within the display of color. When she looks at her oil paintings, Gagnon remembers the process of her art, its conception and realizes her evolution as a student.
An Art History and Studio Art double major from Summit, NJ, Gagnon is confident when she says, “I’ve always wanted to be an artist.” The Montessori school she attended as a young girl encouraged her to be creative, and she began honing her artistic inclinations during her high school years. When choosing a college, Gagnon decided that she valued the opportunity to get a broad, liberal education more than the opportunity to go art school. “The art department at Colby is small, but very strong. There’s always someone there to help [either] as mentors and [or] as friends,” she says.
Gagnon says that Assistant Professor of Art Gary Mitchell and his eye-opening Foundations in Studio Art class have been instrumental to her technical training at the College. Associate Professor and Chair of Art, Bevin Engman has also served as a valuable mentor. As she looks around the studio at her peers’ workspaces Gagnon muses, “Artists are always students.”
Gagnon admits that she has “come a long way in terms of moving ahead in [her] work” during her senior year. The walls of her workspace are a testament to her artistic progression. Her works are displayed chronologically, and many of the paintings reflect the moods she experienced at different points during her time spent in the studio. Some feature muted shades and others bold colors; some emphasize the components of individual shape while others highlight the harmony of the composition. Yet Gagnon’s overall focus is clear: the romance between color and shape stands out in every work.
Although there are many paintings on Gagnon’s studio walls, the easel at her workspace is empty. When asked what she is currently working on, she looks up at one wall of her workspace, and says, “All of them.” Every time she creates a work, Gagnon experiences a passionate “breaking point” at which the elements in her piece become resolved. She values taking time to back away from her work for a few days and then returning to her pieces with a new perspective. “It’s fun when something’s frustrating,” she says.
Gagnon’s studies in art history have aided her own work as a painter. “How can you develop your own voice if you’re ignoring the past?” she asks. Her examination of artistic movements anchors her perspective as an artist who approaches her vocation seriously and passionately. “I guess my work is as much postmodern as the next thing,” she laughs, trying to categorize her own style. “Art [itself] is abstract. It’s about appreciating the experience of what it is.”
All of Gagnon’s paintings are smooth and calm. They combine soft feature shapes with a broad color palette. There is no subject matter, rather, only an abstract feeling when one looks at her work. “For me, I don’t find copying something in real life [to be] that interesting. I feel like art should be creating something new.” Her style is very much centered on visual literacy: she is interested in seeing how much she can experiment with color while still preserving the sense of a piece. Gagnon hopes that viewers of her work appreciate the overall composition and experience emotions that remind them of other important interests in their own lives. “I really enjoy relating painting to literature, music, [or] something that matters to others,” she says.
As co-chair of the Student Art Committee (SAC), Gagnon takes her own passion for art beyond the studio. In this position, she organizes student involvement in the arts on and off the Hill. The SAC regularly hosts exhibitions on campus and organizes visits to gallery crawls that take place in Portland, on the first Friday of each month. In addition to her work on the SAC, Gagnon also balances her love visual art with her involvement in Powder & Wig productions. Most recently she played “Mom” in Caricatures, a student-written play by Michael Trottier ’12. In her free time, Gagnon designs and produces some of her own clothes and attends concerts with her friends at the Mary Low Coffeehouse.
After leaving the Hill, Gagnon plans to attend a six-week painting intensive program at Columbia University. “I want to continue making art,” she says, looking around her workspace, at the paintings that surround her. “Art is a great way to kind of just… be,” Gagnon says earnestly. She then laughs at herself, her embarrassment echoing through the studio as she realizes the profundity of her own words. Gagnon is currently preparing her work to be shown at the Senior Art Exhibition at the College Art Museum on May 5.