Kym Balthazar Fetsko

A few decades spent creating editorial illustrations left me burnt out and yearning to make art that once again excited me. As terrifying as this pandemic is, I'm grateful it gave me time to revisit the type of art that always inspired me - abstract painting.

Truth be told – I’m a Type “A”, bona fide control freak, and my illustrations alluded to that point. I was structured and precise, deadline-driven, and accustomed to having concepts and design already laid out for me. Becoming an abstract painter forced me into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable space of unpredictability and playfulness. While many aspects of painting are under my control, what emerges once the oil and cold wax is laid down is often surprising. The freedom I’ve given myself to explore and create art that’s solely mine is both exhilarating and challenging. By building grungy, textural layers and then working back into them with tools and solvents, I’m allowed to learn and make mistakes and to grow as an artist for the first time in a long while. You’ll still find remnants of my illustrative past with the incorporation of sharp lines and collage, but it’s the push and pull of creating an oil and cold wax piece that motivates me to witness what emerges by the time ...

K. B. Fetsko graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in Illustration, where she won the Harriet Pauline Hughes Award for Pen & Ink Illustration and received Honorable Mention in the William H. Ely Excellence in Illustration competition.

CURRENT:

Art e Fekts Gallery, Pittston PA (Ongoing)

July, 2023 – Solo Exhibition, Marquis Art and Frame, Scranton PA

March 1, 2022 - April 30, 2022 - The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild 2022 Online International Spring Juried Exhibition, San Diego, CA

May 2022 – Solo Exhibition, POSH at SC, Scranton PA

August 2022 – Group Exhibition, Artists for Art Gallery (AFA), Scranton PA

September 26, 2021 - January 2, 2022 - Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

August 25, 2021 - December 10, 2021 - 6th Annual Pocono Art Collage, Dunning Art Gallery NCC-Monroe, Tannersville, PA

June 15, 2021 - July 29, 2021 - Eastern Monroe Public Library, Stroudsburg, PA

April 11, 2021 - June 30, 2021 - Fine Arts League of Cary 26th Annual Juried Online Exhibition, Cary, NC

May 11, 2021 - June 18, 2021 - Pocono Arts Council Members' Exhibition, Stroudsburg, PA

March 26, 2021 - May 15, 2021 - Rice Gallery of Fine Art Small Works Exhibition, Overland Park, KS

February 5, 2021 - February 27, 2021 - AFA Gallery Scranton Love in the Age of Covid Exhibition, Scranton, PA

December 1, 2020 - January 31, 2021 - The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild 2020 Online International Winter Juried Exhibition, San Diego, CA

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