Kathleen Kemly, King's Meadow; Sister Lakes, 2025, Mixed Media Acrylic on Panel, 30 x 21 x 1 in

Kathleen Kemly finds solace and peace in nature, whether hiking through forests or watching rainstorms roll across the city from her porch. These moments of connection foster a sense of continuity with all living things and inform the foundation of her painting practice.

An avid backpacker, she has explored the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, as well as landscapes across the western United States, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. These experiences shape her visual language of color, rhythm, and form, through which she seeks to convey the felt presence of place.

Kemly's paintings often begin in direct response to nature, where she experiences a kinship with trees, clouds, and mountainous terrain. In this space, she perceives a persistent "thrum" of life that endures despite human disruption. Her work aims to translate this energy into visual form, inviting viewers into a moment of immersion and reflection.

Through abstraction rooted in lived experience, her paintings become portals-offering an encounter with the essential vitality of the natural world and a reminder of its fragility and importance.