Many of the things Moore draws and paints have become old friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these objects I\u2019ve used over and over and over,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve become my familiar players on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2019\/12\/Kathleen-Moore-52222_006-508x327.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cThree of Hearts Still Life” by Kathy Moore, a Wright State fine arts grad, won the 121st edition of a competition at the Richmond Art Museum. (Video by Kris Sproles \/ photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n
In October, Moore installed 25 landscape and still life paintings at the Meadowlark Restaurant in Dayton. Moore, who has had 15 solo shows over the years, was also accepted as an affiliate member of the First Street Gallery, an artist-run nonprofit cooperative in the Chelsea district of New York City. Seven of her artworks and those of four other artists were exhibited at the contemporary art gallery\u2019s 2019 Affiliate Members Exhibition.<\/p>\n
In its promotion of Moore, the gallery said she paints and draws from intense visual observation based on the still life motif. \u201cHer intent is to place the viewer within her immediate visual perspective, as if the viewer is present, stepping out of a spectator role. Within each still life, she aspires to convey a luminous, quiet, and intimate order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore was part of an Air Force family growing up and moved around a lot. She spent three years at Wayne High School in Dayton but graduated from Largo High School in Largo, Florida.<\/p>\n
She began drawing and painting when she was young. Her father would sometimes buy her art supplies at the base exchange.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my mother was very instrumental in keeping me involved in the arts,\u201d said Moore. \u201cShe must have recognized that I really enjoyed doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After graduating from high school, Moore returned to Dayton and earned her associate degree in commercial art from Sinclair Community College.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was probably my first introduction to studio classes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe worked with acrylic paints and I continued to work with acrylic paints after I graduated.\u201d<\/p>\n
After getting married and raising her two young children, Moore decided to return to college part time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWright State was the school I really was drawn to,\u201d she said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t interested in going to a college that focused a lot on abstract artwork. What I enjoyed doing was more representational art. I also moved from acrylic paints and learned to love the qualities of working with oil paint that was introduced to me at WSU.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wright State art program emphasized working from direct observation and learning how to sight measure, an extremely important tool when working from a still life, which is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would always work from life \u2014 whether it was still life, the landscape, or working from the figure. It all really resonated with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Wright State in 2003 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in painting<\/a>, Moore began teaching as an adjunct instructor in drawing and painting classes at Edison Community College in Piqua. She also continued to draw and paint in the studio loft of her home in Casstown, a few miles west of Troy.<\/p>\n Kathy Moore uses sight measuring, a technique learned in the Wright State Department of Art and Art History, when she draws or paints.<\/p><\/div>\n Moore\u2019s first solo show outside of Wright State came at the Rosewood Arts Centre in Kettering.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so excited. I could not believe it,\u201d she said. \u201cI had only been out of college for a year and I was selected for a solo show. I was thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n But that was just the beginning. Moore quickly began to get her artwork into national contests, competing with and being display with artworks from around the country. The Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, Louisiana, accepted her artwork into her first national competition. She continued to get into four more national competitions around the country within the same year.<\/p>\n Moore attributes her success to a strong work ethic, finding a way to fit drawing and painting into her regular work schedule and always challenging herself.<\/p>\n She also credits her time at Wright State.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean there\u2019s no doubt about that,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to spend so much time in the studios. It\u2019s practice, practice, practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore teaches five days a week as an adjunct faculty member in the College for Lifelong Learning at Sinclair. Classes are held around Montgomery County, many in community or retirement centers. Most students range in age from 60 to 85 and include beginning, intermediate and advanced skill levels. Most of her students have been taking her class for many years.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a few years I encourage students to enter into local competitions,\u201d she said. \u201cMany of them have and many of them have started winning awards for their artwork. It\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore says drawing and painting is hard work.<\/p>\n \u201cI stand up the whole time when I\u2019m working so it is not a relaxing activity,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I have to have my brain fully engaged in what I\u2019m doing. There is a lot of decision-making, a lot of processing of visual information while I\u2019m working. It\u2019s not an easy task. It feels like work but the satisfaction comes when things start coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Artist and Wright State University alumna Kathy Moore enjoys success in art competitions. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2019\/12\/Kathleen-Moore-52222_011-208x300.jpg\")
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