Meet Katharine Gould | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katharine Gould and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katharine, why did you pursue a creative career?

As a young child color was like food for me, bolts of fabric, bouquets of flowers nurtured me more than my lunch box. My training began at age 17 when I spent 5 years in studio and academic classes, receiving a combined BFA in sculpture and painting from The Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly after, I earned an MFA from the University of Chicago and proceeded to teach art history in their extension program and sculpture at The University’s Midway Studios.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I paint with soft pastels, mixing the pigments with my hands directly on the paper, blending and layering color over color with my fingers to create the transparent and reflective aspect of water, sand, clouds and skin. Using the rich, undiluted, colors of pastel with the hands of a sculptor, I model the landscape and body, bathing it in light and shadow.

During covid when I couldn’t travel I began to create landscapes. I kept hearing Robert Frost’s words “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” He came to my school to read his poems when I was in elementary school in Cambridge MA. It wasn’t until almost a year of painting, seascapes, that I realized that I was the one who felt walled in. I grew up on the Atlantic coast and have settled on the Pacific coast. I have always  been drawn to sea and ocean where there are no walls. My favorite time as a child was summering on the Forbes Islands off Cape Cod and now I return every summer to Martha’s Vineyard another island next door. Now I’m so fortunate to have a studio 10 blocks from the Santa Monica coastline. The ocean has its’ own timetable that belongs to no one.

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Long version:

I BEGAN MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER AS A SCULPTOR MOLDING AND WELDING STEEL, WHICH LED TO CARVING WOOD, EXPLORING THE CONTRAST OF ORGANIC FORMS WITH STAINLESS STEEL, CREATING MONUMENTAL PIECES USING RAILROAD TIES AND 10-FOOT WELDED STEEL BARS. EXHIBITIONS FOLLOWED IN CHICAGO AT THE ZOLA LIEBERMAN GALLERY, MIDWAY STUDIO GALLERY AND AN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION IN VERMONT. I WAS AWARDED A SCULPTOR’S STUDIO AT THE PRESTIGIOUS CITÉ INTERNATIONAL DES ARTS IN PARIS. MOVING MY FAMILY TO PARIS WAS A SEMINAL EVENT IN MY LIFE AND THE FOCUS OF MY WORK SHIFTED.

I PROCEEDED TO CARVE ANTHROPOMORPHIC FORMS FROM AGED OAK BEAMS, WHICH I COMBINED WITH COOL REFLECTING STAINLESS STEEL RODS. MY WORKS SOLD TO PRIVATE COLLECTIONS AND WERE FEATURED IN “LEONARDO”, THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTISTS. I ALSO CO-CREATED A PERFORMANCE ART PIECE WITH A YOUNG FRENCH CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER WHO INTERPRETED 5 OF MY SCULPTURES TO THE MUSIC OF PHILLIP GLASS. TOWARD THE END OF THE 3 YEARS IN PARIS I WAS CARVING HEADS WITH BIRDS ON TOP AND BEGAN A SERIES OF SEVEN, 6 TO 9-FOOT TREE WOMEN, THAT I CARVED WITH CHISELS AND CIRCULAR SANDERS. TO FURTHER CREATE SHADOW AND NEGATIVE SPACE, I BURNED THE WOOD WITH AN OXYACETYLENE TORCH, DEFINING HAIR, BREAST, AND THIGH, BLENDING FEMALE AND TREE. FOUR OF THESE PIECES ARE IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN CHICAGO AND CALIFORNIA.

THE FOCUS OF MY WORK AS AN ARTIST SHIFTED FROM CARVING TO FIGURATIVE WORK ON PAPER WITH INKS, CHARCOAL AND PASTEL. WITH DANCERS AS MY MODELS FOR WHOM MOVEMENT AND GESTURE COME NATURALLY, I BEGAN DEVELOPING MY TECHNIQUE, FINDING JOY IN THE IMMEDIACY OF PASTELS WHICH ALLOWED ME TO CAPTURE THE MOVEMENT OF THE BODY AND THE INTENSITY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW QUICKLY, RELATIVE TO THE SLOW PROCESS OF CARVING. I WORKED FROM MY IMAGINATION ON THE HUMAN COUPLE: CAUGHT, MERGING, FALLING INTO AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, LETTING GO, ESCAPING, SEPARATING. THIS WORK EVOLVED INTO THE FLIGHT SERIES.

TWO ART MOVEMENTS OF THE LAST CENTURY, CUBISM AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM FOCUSED ON FLATTENING THE IMAGE ON PAPER OR CANVAS. THE ILLUSION OF SPACE GREW NARROWER AND NARROWER CREATING TENSION FOR THE VIEWER. FLATTENING OF THE IMAGE CONTINUES AS THE FOCUS FOR MANY ARTISTS TODAY. IN MY WORK I WANT THE OPPOSITE. SINCE MY MOVE TO CALIFORNIA IN 2010 WORKING IN MY SANTA MONICA STUDIO, I WANT TO CREATE THE ILLUSION OF WIDE SPACES, DESERT, RIVERBANK, OCEAN, DISTANT HORIZONS. THIS WORK BECAME: EXODUS, FENCES, AND SEASCAPE.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I would like to introduce Tanna Harris, who has just opened O&V at 1109 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA, where my art is being exhibited. Here she provides delicious tastings of olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars from all over the world. From elegant silver containers “Fusti’” she pours about a tablespoon into a plastic cup for you to savor: suggesting a variety of combinations she creates flavors for you to taste that could never be imagined. “Our first priority is to gently educate our customers on the importance of freshness for oil olives and aging for balsamic Vinegars.” – Tanna Harris.

I would also like to introduce a well located gallery: Gallery 612, Santa Monica Blvd. The front gallery walls face the street and provide excellent sidewalk viewings on the weekends when this area of town is busy with locals and tourists walking to restaurants, galleries and hotels. The curator, Linda Martinez, greets viewers with warmth and provides an educated guide of the art on the walls.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I would like to introduce Tanna Harris, who has just opened O&V at 1109 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA. Here she provides delicious tastings of olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars from all over the world. From elegant silver containers “Fusti’” she pours about a tablespoon into a plastic cup for you to savor: suggesting a variety of combinations she creates flavors for you to taste that could never be imagined. “Our first priority is to gently educate our customers on the importance of freshness for oil olives and aging for balsamic Vinegars.” – Tanna Harris.

I would also like to introduce a well located gallery: Gallery 612 Santa Monica Blvd. The front gallery walls face the street and provide excellent sidewalk viewings on the weekends when this area of town is busy with locals and tourists walking to restaurants, galleries and hotels. The curator, Linda Martinez, greets viewers with warmth and provides an educated guide of the art on the walls.

Website: https://www.katharinegouldart.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katharinegouldart

Image Credits

Katharine Gould

©2025 KATHARINE GOULD ART. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.