Katherine Knight

In my main body of work, I make self-portraits to better understand the many roles I play in my life. For the first two thirds of my life, I was daughter, and friend. Now I am also wife, mother, sister-in-law, aunt, professor, leader, advocate, and activist. I use symbols, and elements of place as stand-ins for the dynamics I analyze. Each element holds a personal meaning, but also has a folkloric, regional, cultural, literary, or medicinal meaning. I have a lot to process, and dealing with my relationships in code protects me from having awkward and emotional conversations about my work with loved ones. 
I also enjoy making work that is less personal. Some pieces solve a particular materials puzzle (such as how to hide a transition from real knitting to trompe l’oeil painted knitting), while others are small, plein air paintings of places and things that I love, as a means of celebrating and prolonging my time with them.

Katherine Knight grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She received a BA in Studio Art from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and an MFA in Painting from American University in Washington, DC. She has completed additional studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Her work has been exhibited at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, the OU Gallery on Vancouver Island Canada, Gallaudet University in Washington DC, Shrine NYC’s virtual Group Show (room 5), and the Indie Grits Film Festival, where her short film Sunday Mornings won the Southern Lens Award. International artist residencies include the OU Gallery on Vancouver Island, Canada, and the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland. She is associate professor of painting at Montgomery College in Silver Spring, Maryland, and splits her time between Washington, DC and rural Appalachia.