Kathleen Laybourn

I was born to a blue-collar family in 1955. Kenosha had long been a factory town having two American Motors plants and a series of other manufacturing businesses. Located on Lake Michigan, it acted as a port to many cargo ships coming from all around the world. For many years of my youth, my father served as the Chief Steward for the local auto workers' labor union. Strike times were stressful times around my home.

As a youngster I was compelled to draw and drew on everything much to my mother's dismay. After being punished for drawing on my dresser, I became more stealthy by pulling out the drawers and drawing on the back inside boards. My clothes covered up the marks, and I assumed my mother never saw them, because she never mentioned it again. Or maybe she just gave in to my creative inclinations.

I believe that artists are born which is to say that not every one is an artist. This view is a little unpopular in America where the mindset is to make everything and everyone equal. True artists never stop exercising their craft; they possess the "inner necessity" coined by Kandinsky. To not create is to deny oneself, for true artists tend to translate their experiences and opinions through their work as if to reaffir...

MFA, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
MA, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
BA, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA

2017
Kenosha/Racine Artist Invitational Exhibition, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI

2015
The Cry: Requiem for the Lost Child, Visual Images Booklet w/ Lyrics, Composer: Adrian Snell, Kenosha, WI
Merge: Artist Collaboration Show, ArtWorks Gallery,
Kenosha, WI

2014
Oil and Water, National Juried Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL.
The Brooch Show, Regional Juried Exhibition, Racine Arts Council Gallery, Racine, WI.

2013
Solo Show, Racine Art Museum: Wustum Museum, Racine, WI (Fellowship Award)
Women's Work, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL.

2012
Surface Tension: Three Person Exhibition, Racine Arts Council, Racine, WI
Out of Town: Artists of Racine & Kenosha, Blutstein-Brondino Gallery, Milwuakee, WI
The Three (Dis)Graces: Povery, Neglect & Indifference, Solo Show, Anderson Arts Center, Kenosha, WI

2011
Racine & Vicinity, Group Exhibition, Wustum Museum, Racine, WI
American Art Awards (Online Competition), First Place: Fashion Design, First Place: Representational Painting, President: Thom Bierdz
Kenosha/Racine Artists' Network, Group Exhibition, Racine Arts Council Gallery, Racine, WI

2010
Burn,...