About the Artist
A Painter's Journey
Monterey CA, fine artist Kathryn Ann Myers is a lifelong collector of stories that places tell. Her keen eye for color and line translates the feeling of a seascape, the loom of a mountain, or the ache of the desert onto canvas. At the heart of her work is a sincere passion for relationship, both with the history of the land we inhabit and the diversity of perspectives we witness them through. With her sketchbook at her side, Myers takes on the role of translator – helping others understand the emotional life of a landscape and the urgency to protect the sacred spaces we call home.
Myers was born in the Rio Grand River basin at the foothills of the Jemez Mountains in Northern New Mexico. In one of her earliest memories, she attempts to capture the feeling of the river and mountains by ripping various shades of blue paper and layering them.
Her parents encouraged her to develop her skills as an artist, signed her up for art classes, and sent her to different art camps from kindergarten onward. A typical Sunday morning in her childhood was spent illustrating the stories of God, his people, and his son Jesus, while sitting in a pew alongside her mother. Then in the afternoons, she would experience God's creation by hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, and sketching in natural cathedrals while reading Emerson, Thoreau, and Jon Muir with her father. Her parents worked as theoretical mathematicians but spent their leisure time in many different artistic endeavors. They are still trying new things and playfully making something every day.
Wanting to learn more about the natural world, she moved to the Willamette River Valley to attend Lewis and Clark College as a Biology major. However, she quickly realized she enjoyed studying nature more in the studio than in the laboratory. She fell in love with the work of Hassam, Hokusai, and Gauguin. She called her parents to let them know she was changing her major. To her surprise, they pushed back and told her to keep taking art classes but major in something that would provide a financially stable career.
After graduating with a BA in Studio Art and a Masters in Teaching from Lewis and Clark, Myers set out to be an artist and quickly wished someone had told her to take business classes to prepare her for the life of a working artist. She started learning how to run a successful business and accepted a job as a kindergarten teacher.
Myers taught with a paintbrush in her hand. She spent the first half of her career building classroom environments that encouraged children to share their voices and stories through the arts. Like her parents, she spent her leisure time in the forest, taking art classes, and drawing.
In 2014, she accepted a teaching position at the Portland Children's Museum's esteemed Opal School, where she worked with a team of educators from around the world to curate interactive studio experiences in a variety of mediums.
In the wake of 2020's transition, Myers turned her focus inward, applying her expert curator's hand to create her own studio collections. In this work – personal, intentional, and celebratory – her commitment to teaching others to use art as a language and her unique eye for the stories that live in our landscapes combine.
“Stories create empathy,” Myers continues, “through art, we transcend the limits of the spoken word. I hope my art will inspire the next generation of conservationists. A generation that cares for this land because they have fallen in love with it. A generation that knows how to look, to listen, and to share the stories it tells.”
