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Kathleen House

Painting


Kathleen House did not take an art class until she was 16 years old, but all through her childhood creativity expressed through art was part of her life.

The first time she drew was on her Grandmother’s front porch at 3 years old. She would also draw and label images of her junior high science classes. Being a Girl Scout was one of the biggest influences on Kathleen’s life, as she learned how to complete goals by successfully selling cookies going door to door. Her experiences in choir and band from 5th grade through high school also gave her a taste of art through music. She went on to play in the marching band during her freshman year of college.

During those ten years she and a fellow art teacher co-founded and operated Art Daze. Art Daze was an education program which included summer art camps and weekly art classes for children from ages 4-18. In 1986-1995, while working for Coppell ISD, taking care of family, and involved in Art Daze, she also decided to return to college to complete a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Texas Women’s University in 1992. In 1995 both daughters were in college and she and her husband were ready to move to the country. They found a lovely property with the original house, chicken coop and horse barn. Over 25 years life has moved through many changes.

The summer before her senior year in high school, Kathleen took her first drawing art class at a Community Center. She later decided to major in art education at Kansas State University. After graduating in 1973 with her Bachelor’s degree in Art Education, she moved on to be an art teacher, art business owner and successful studio artist.

She and her family moved to Hurst TX in 1980 where she worked as an elementary school substitute teacher. In 1984 they moved to Coppell, Texas. After volunteering to teach art for one year to three fifth grade classes to fulfill art mandates set by the state of Texas, she wrote a proposal the following year and was hired by the Coppell School District in 1986 to teach elementary art education. During her time there she also began the elementary art education program and co- wrote the original art education curriculum. Over ten years of commitment to art education in Coppell, she was able to orchestrate a full elementary program.

In 1999, She and her daughter started an art education business in Flower Mound, Tx called Art House. They added a second location in Southlake, Tx and ran the business together for 12 years, eventually selling it in 2011.

In 2002, House was part of a founding group that created the Cross Timbers Artist’s Guild. During that time she continued to create multiple painting series as well as focus on family. She created her most recent series in 2019, Visual Discomfort, based on the discomforting feelings and views she witnesses all around her residence and property. There is always maintenance needed.

In addition to her career as an art educator an abstract painter, she is a wife, mother, and grandmother. As Kathleen looks back on her journey as an artist and the growth of her passion for art, she is looking ahead to the future with excitement for what she will get to create next.

NATURE SERIES – 2020-21 , ,
2020 was a tough year – bemg quarantined, staying home day after day, spending time sifting around. Being an artistic and visual person, I began to view nature’s images through windows, on walls and objects from inside our home.
First time I was visually impressed by nature, was looking through the small windows on the french doors. My oldest daughter and I were enjoying some quiet time together. We were sitting on the bed looking outside. I had a sketchbook and colored pencils and as I obsened the outside nature I began sketching the scenes and (abeling them 1-A, 1-B, 1 -C, etc.

My second experience with nature through the window was when I was sitting atone in a small room. I noticed an image on the wall in front of me as sun came through the window behind me. The images were nature’s reflections on the wall. TTiose reflections impressed me, so I started taking pictures on my iPhone. I captured quite a lot of nature’s reflections. A couple times we visited fnends and I was able to capture more images. Some were outside on patio walls. As the quarantine started to lift, restaurants opened in small capacity. I found nature’s reflections on the gravel parking lot at The Bartonville Store.

The final scenes in this series are trees in nature on our property. Relaxing on the front porch, viewing nature in person brings me peace.
This Nature series, which began in 2020 and completed in 2021, has encouraged my expressive artistic self through nature.
-Khniisfi

Kathleen House

240 McMakin Rd
Double Oak
817-917-2787
kathleenhouse2787@gmail.com

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