Kathy Halper

I’ve been a professional artist for 25 years. In that time I’ve painted in oil, gouache and acrylic, on canvas, wood and cardboard boxes. I’ve dabbled in printmaking and encaustic and I’ve given blood (I do mean that literally), sweat and tears to the craft of embroidery.

I’ve loved them all and never say never as to what I will do next. What I do know is that I wake up every morning with a need to create art. It is how I connect with the world and express who I am.

My most recent work, started January 2021 is a form of pandemic diary. My life has become very small and given me an opportunity to think about the moments that make up a day. My dog barking, the houses we walk past, the knotty tree I didn’t notice yesterday.

Painting these moments force me, and I hope the viewer, to “realize life while we live it” (to quote Thorton Wilder).

The scenes are rendered not as they are, but as they appear in my mind with flattened shapes, distorted perspectives and romanticized palettes. While the work is primarily oil painting, I have pulled elements from past series to clarify my voice. This includes cardboard layers, outlined shapes and influences of outsider art to infuse the scenes with my humor, humanity and warped look at...

I studied advertising in the journalism school of the University of Colorado at Boulder and worked as a copywriter at many of the largest advertising agencies in Chicago before pursuing art. I

I have been a self taught artist for 25 years, constantly challenging myself to learn new techniques and expand my understanding of what my art can say to the world.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

“What a Day It’s Been” – 1100 Florence Gallery – Evanston, IL
“Epic Party” – George Billis Gallery LA
“TMI (Too Much Information)” – Packer Schopf Gallery
“POS (Parent Over Shoulder)”- Craftland Gallery, Providence, RI
“Friend Me” – Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago
“This is Our Youth” – University of Illinois, Chicago
“Shall We Gather: Narratives of Community” – University of Illinois, Chicago
Union League Club of Chicago
“Hand in Hand: Portraits of the Unsung” – SXU, Saint Xavier University, Chicago
“We All Loved Each Other So Much” – Gallery Mornea, Evanston
“Layers” – ARC Gallery

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

“3 Embroidery Artists” – Aron Packer Projects – Evanston, IL
“Boundary Lines: Crafting Personal Space” – Florida CraftArt – St. Petersburg, FL
“Language Art” – Cornell Museum – Delray Beach, Fl
“Pro-Text:When Words Enter Visual Art” – Illinois State Museum – Chicago
CONTEXT/Art Miami – Packer Schopf Gallery – As part of Art Basel Miami
“Be Good For Goodness Sake” – Muriel Guépin Gallery – New York City
SOFA Chicago 2013 – Lindsay Gallery – Columbus, Ohio
“17th Annual No Dead Artists” – Jonathan Ferrara Gallery – New Orleans, LA
“On Watching and Being Seen” – Northern Illinois ...