>> Jillian Player
Throughout her artistic life, Kathy Guthrie’s art has transformed over the years, but the one constant has been calligraphy. She started taking art seriously as a young person, experimenting with pastels, before studying graphic design at Sheridan College in Ontario, where she is originally from. After college, Kathy started to take a keen interest in calligraphy.
Kathy and her family moved between Alberta and BC for a few years. While living in Calgary, she joined the calligraphy guild and sought out instruction from international calligraphers. They were living in Brentwood in the nineties, when she started combining other mediums with calligraphy. Finally, they came to rest upon their modern home on Shakespeare Street nine years ago. While raising two children — who have become artists/musicians — Kathy studied at Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) and received a Certificate of Visual Arts. She is still a frequent student at the school, taking workshops with different instructors, to continually grow as an artist. While at VISA she became enamored with printmaking. She joined Ground Zero Printmakers to explore the process more fully. Kathy is a member of the Fairbank Calligraphy Society and Gallery 1580 studios, and is fully committed to studio work. Her art seems to have come full circle and is now on a new trajectory. For a number of years, Kathy has been incorporating vintage family photos into her work, which she says is not nostalgic, but rather a source of inspiration. She is reproducing large (30” x 30”) images from original old photos of her sister who passed away, and pictures of her family cottage in Ontario. She layers these large, grayscale images with tissue paper and Mylar plastic. Each layer is comprised of drawings of grids, words, and paint, transforming the photos into illusory and ambiguous multi-media works.
Kathy Guthrie has been involved in many group and juried art shows. Look for her in the upcoming TD Art Gallery Paint-in and the Sooke and Sidney fine art shows. See more of her artwork and check out her calligraphy workshops at kathyguthrie.com.
