KATHERINE TREFFINGER
U.S.
ART OF THIS WORLD: What do you feel are the emotions and drive behind creating your visual works of art?
KATHERINE TREFFINGER: I like to think all of my emotions are involved in creating art from joy to despair. I have a very active relationship with my feelings in that I like to stay very in touch with what is up with me and let my feelings guide me. I am also a firm believer that emotions have a large impact on the life we create for ourselves. I am getting off track, and here I am on the first question. I have learned that one of the most successful things I can do in creating a piece of art is to express my feelings in the creating. I think that is true of any expressive artist, of which I am definitely one.
Art gives my life meaning and that is the drive behind creating for me. This is why I started the Art and Meaning project on my blog. I have yet to answer the question myself. I like to think of myself as a modern myth maker, but don’t know how often I succeed at it in my art work. My commitment, to expressing the Divine mystery, keeps me returning to painting abstractly, in hopes that some quality of Gods face will show up in the work. It is easier for me to stay with the Divine mystery in working abstractly, which in its’ nature is a mystery. I meditate before I work and actively listen to Divine guidance while I work. It is one of the ways I feel most aligned with my higher self, in that the nature of the Divine is creation.
KATHERINE TREFFINGER: I like to think all of my emotions are involved in creating art from joy to despair. I have a very active relationship with my feelings in that I like to stay very in touch with what is up with me and let my feelings guide me. I am also a firm believer that emotions have a large impact on the life we create for ourselves. I am getting off track, and here I am on the first question. I have learned that one of the most successful things I can do in creating a piece of art is to express my feelings in the creating. I think that is true of any expressive artist, of which I am definitely one.
Art gives my life meaning and that is the drive behind creating for me. This is why I started the Art and Meaning project on my blog. I have yet to answer the question myself. I like to think of myself as a modern myth maker, but don’t know how often I succeed at it in my art work. My commitment, to expressing the Divine mystery, keeps me returning to painting abstractly, in hopes that some quality of Gods face will show up in the work. It is easier for me to stay with the Divine mystery in working abstractly, which in its’ nature is a mystery. I meditate before I work and actively listen to Divine guidance while I work. It is one of the ways I feel most aligned with my higher self, in that the nature of the Divine is creation.
'ANNA'
AOTW: It is always inspiring to learn that an artist is self-taught and able to work from an inherent ability to create beautiful and moving art in both abstract and figurative forms. Can you share your thoughts about your love of color and what inspires your subject matter.
KT: Thank you for the compliment. Painting and drawing people comes from both an adhering to the classical approach of working from a live model, which I have spent many hours doing, and my intrigue with us humans. We are intriguing aren’t we? I have drawn a coyote and crows and ravens out of both my love for nature and a move to the remote high desert area of Eastern Oregon. I am not certain why the love of color. I’m a Leo? My repeated visits to the colorful Latin cultures of Mexico and Guatemala? I don’t know. I feel fed and nurtured by color. I love vibrancy. I have had to work with bringing neutrals into my art.
KT: Thank you for the compliment. Painting and drawing people comes from both an adhering to the classical approach of working from a live model, which I have spent many hours doing, and my intrigue with us humans. We are intriguing aren’t we? I have drawn a coyote and crows and ravens out of both my love for nature and a move to the remote high desert area of Eastern Oregon. I am not certain why the love of color. I’m a Leo? My repeated visits to the colorful Latin cultures of Mexico and Guatemala? I don’t know. I feel fed and nurtured by color. I love vibrancy. I have had to work with bringing neutrals into my art.
'DANIEL'
AOTW: Can you describe influences from your childhood that moved you and may have led you to become a painter?
KT: My father was a successful architect. He also painted and built furniture. We lived in the San Francisco/Bay Area. I was surrounded by beauty and creativity. I lived there during very important times. I was a child in the 50’s in Sausalito when it was home to the beatnik movement of such people as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder. I lived across the street from a coffee house where they came to read their latest poetry. Art Grant, a local artist, lived behind our duplex in a small cottage. I would find my toys in sculptures in his garden as I walked the path to the bayside beach under a boardwalk in front of his cottage. It was an art town and it could be witnessed everywhere, from wildly painted cars, unusual fashions, sculptural house boats, and unusual names for children. I was enchanted by it all. It’s funny that the Abstract Expressionist and the Bay Area Figurative movements were in full swing right there and then, and though I was too young to be aware of it, they were the very artists that would inspire me later.
I was a teen in the sixties in the San Francisco area and an active participant in the cultural revolution of the free love Hippies, the anti-war, and women’s movement. And it was a cultural revolution. How it informed my eventual desire to create would probably take a novel, a story of rock concerts and hallucinatory drugs and altered states of awareness, of light shows and dancing and communing with nature. I spent my 20’s living in San Francisco where creativity was everywhere.
KT: My father was a successful architect. He also painted and built furniture. We lived in the San Francisco/Bay Area. I was surrounded by beauty and creativity. I lived there during very important times. I was a child in the 50’s in Sausalito when it was home to the beatnik movement of such people as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder. I lived across the street from a coffee house where they came to read their latest poetry. Art Grant, a local artist, lived behind our duplex in a small cottage. I would find my toys in sculptures in his garden as I walked the path to the bayside beach under a boardwalk in front of his cottage. It was an art town and it could be witnessed everywhere, from wildly painted cars, unusual fashions, sculptural house boats, and unusual names for children. I was enchanted by it all. It’s funny that the Abstract Expressionist and the Bay Area Figurative movements were in full swing right there and then, and though I was too young to be aware of it, they were the very artists that would inspire me later.
I was a teen in the sixties in the San Francisco area and an active participant in the cultural revolution of the free love Hippies, the anti-war, and women’s movement. And it was a cultural revolution. How it informed my eventual desire to create would probably take a novel, a story of rock concerts and hallucinatory drugs and altered states of awareness, of light shows and dancing and communing with nature. I spent my 20’s living in San Francisco where creativity was everywhere.
'COYOTE'
AOTW: How long have you been collaborating with Cindy Bilotti? Can you discuss the collaborative process with our readers and how best to succeed in a collaborative effort?
KT: By the 2004 collaboration, Cindy and I had been drawing and painting next to each other for a couple of years sharing model fees. There were times when, in our frustration with a piece we were working on we would want to hand the piece over to the other and ask can you do something with this? I can’t. I discovered the Zhou Brothers, two Chinese artists based in Chicago, who collaborate on these huge beautiful paintings. They are in fact brothers. I was very inspired by the work and the concept of painting with someone else. I wanted to try it. I knew immediately who I wanted to approach. Cindy loved the idea. We decided to read a fairy tale/myth before starting a painting and let it inform our process rather than illustrating it. We both approach art from the standpoint of breaking the illusion of control especially in approaching ‘precious’ areas of a painting. We made two rules: never hesitate in following your instincts and never hesitate in painting over what I just painted. With that foundation and our incredible trust in each others’ relationship to creativity we created 13 large format paintings and did not have one tense moment. It was very fun. We painted on the same painting at the same time. Sometimes we were quiet, sometimes we talked or laughed. A few moans snuck in, but even they portended the unfolding of something exciting.
KT: By the 2004 collaboration, Cindy and I had been drawing and painting next to each other for a couple of years sharing model fees. There were times when, in our frustration with a piece we were working on we would want to hand the piece over to the other and ask can you do something with this? I can’t. I discovered the Zhou Brothers, two Chinese artists based in Chicago, who collaborate on these huge beautiful paintings. They are in fact brothers. I was very inspired by the work and the concept of painting with someone else. I wanted to try it. I knew immediately who I wanted to approach. Cindy loved the idea. We decided to read a fairy tale/myth before starting a painting and let it inform our process rather than illustrating it. We both approach art from the standpoint of breaking the illusion of control especially in approaching ‘precious’ areas of a painting. We made two rules: never hesitate in following your instincts and never hesitate in painting over what I just painted. With that foundation and our incredible trust in each others’ relationship to creativity we created 13 large format paintings and did not have one tense moment. It was very fun. We painted on the same painting at the same time. Sometimes we were quiet, sometimes we talked or laughed. A few moans snuck in, but even they portended the unfolding of something exciting.
'THE UGLY DUCKLING' (Collaborative Painting with Cindy Bilotti)
I don’t know what I would recommend to others in regards to collaboration except to let go of control. You have to. It is not the creation of an individual but rather the creation of the coming together. I do recommend doing it though, it is highly informative. Like a jazz jam the musicians take each other to a place they often could not do alone, we could not have created these paintings individually. The experience completely changed my approach and my style. It was very freeing. I highly respect Cindy’s artistic sensibilities and skill and that helped in trusting the process.
Cindy lives four hours away from me now so we no longer work together, but we miss it. Something happened, in those sessions, that was truly magical.
Cindy lives four hours away from me now so we no longer work together, but we miss it. Something happened, in those sessions, that was truly magical.
'JUBILEE'
AOTW: You have stated that you do spiritual healing. What do you feel is the connection between your art and your spiritual work. Clearly art is a spiritual expression ... did your art lead you toward becoming a healer or was this also something innate that has come forth. Please explain.
KT: I have been devoted to my spiritual path for 30 years now, I have been an artist for 18 of those years. So it was actually the art that came out of the spiritual. I remember the moment very clearly when I knew I had to be an artist. In 1992 I was conversing with a spiritual friend about some frustration I was feeling in my life. She asked who in my life I was envious of. After very little hesitation I responded “my friends who are artists.” She said “well then you are an artist, and if you do not express that part of yourself I am not visiting you when you end up in the hospital!” She then wrote a check out and handed it to me and commissioned my first piece of art, which, fortunately, she was extremely pleased with.
I have taken several years off in my work as a healer, but have continued mentoring and counseling. A recent opening in my healing abilities has encouraged me to return to the work. At the same time I am feeling the opening with my art, I guess an opening is just that, an opening and it doesn’t compartmentalize.
KT: I have been devoted to my spiritual path for 30 years now, I have been an artist for 18 of those years. So it was actually the art that came out of the spiritual. I remember the moment very clearly when I knew I had to be an artist. In 1992 I was conversing with a spiritual friend about some frustration I was feeling in my life. She asked who in my life I was envious of. After very little hesitation I responded “my friends who are artists.” She said “well then you are an artist, and if you do not express that part of yourself I am not visiting you when you end up in the hospital!” She then wrote a check out and handed it to me and commissioned my first piece of art, which, fortunately, she was extremely pleased with.
I have taken several years off in my work as a healer, but have continued mentoring and counseling. A recent opening in my healing abilities has encouraged me to return to the work. At the same time I am feeling the opening with my art, I guess an opening is just that, an opening and it doesn’t compartmentalize.
'THE WITNESS'
AOTW: How do you approach spiritual healing with others?
KT: Let me begin by saying that I must be approached by someone for a healing first. I never work with someone who has not asked for it, unless they are not capable of asking.
I shall quote my brochure with this response as I put quite a bit of thought into this question:
“I do laying on of hands and distance healing. With this touch I am clearing, unblocking, aligning and balancing the energetic and light bodies, bringing these systems into more embodiment of the physical. I open myself to the Divine harmony that I know is the truth of the being with whom I am working. When I do a distance healing, I close my eyes and the person’s energetic body is present with me. Some of my clearest information about a person comes through when I am doing this work.”
KT: Let me begin by saying that I must be approached by someone for a healing first. I never work with someone who has not asked for it, unless they are not capable of asking.
I shall quote my brochure with this response as I put quite a bit of thought into this question:
“I do laying on of hands and distance healing. With this touch I am clearing, unblocking, aligning and balancing the energetic and light bodies, bringing these systems into more embodiment of the physical. I open myself to the Divine harmony that I know is the truth of the being with whom I am working. When I do a distance healing, I close my eyes and the person’s energetic body is present with me. Some of my clearest information about a person comes through when I am doing this work.”
'ZAO'S GARDEN'
AOTW: When did you begin selling your art?
KT: Well, as you can see from my answer above, right away. LOL! I started working with collages and they sold easily. I drew and painted for a couple of years before I felt comfortable selling. I was in a show or two before then. Once I started selling, the art sold. I have really been very fortunate in that way. It has taken years to bring my prices to the point where they are now, and I would like to see a further appreciation more rapidly. It is quite a dance involving many factors.
KT: Well, as you can see from my answer above, right away. LOL! I started working with collages and they sold easily. I drew and painted for a couple of years before I felt comfortable selling. I was in a show or two before then. Once I started selling, the art sold. I have really been very fortunate in that way. It has taken years to bring my prices to the point where they are now, and I would like to see a further appreciation more rapidly. It is quite a dance involving many factors.
AOTW: What methods have you researched for selling your work that would be helpful to other artists who are interested in this as well?
KT: I don’t know that I can talk about what I have researched as I have mostly come at it from proactively floating down the river of life. I intend and then I follow what shows up as I pursue ideas that come to me, trusting that I know what is right for that stage of my career. At first it was about resume building, then price building and exposing myself. Different art is going to have different methods. I do well in a high end furniture store for example, that would not be true for everyone.
I think an internet presence is very important, especially a web site, at this point so many submissions are done via web sites. People want something and they go to the search engines. I had an art consultant find me by searching contemporary American abstract. I was in an artists’ directory and they found me there. Collectors have to be able to find you.
KATHERINE'S STUDIO
AOTW: Do you set goals for yourself with your work and if so, how do you do this?
KT: I am a goal setter and a believer in intentions and I use both quite a bit, but you have reminded me, by this question, that I need to do this with my art more.
I am in the practice of doing Be, Have then Do intentions.
In other words starting with a list of sentences that start with I am, then I have, then what I want to be doing. Then I try to let go of the whole list. I always add this or something better!
KT: I am a goal setter and a believer in intentions and I use both quite a bit, but you have reminded me, by this question, that I need to do this with my art more.
I am in the practice of doing Be, Have then Do intentions.
In other words starting with a list of sentences that start with I am, then I have, then what I want to be doing. Then I try to let go of the whole list. I always add this or something better!
STUDIO CORNER
AOTW: What are some of the challenges you strive to overcome, if any, in making your work and having it seen?
KT: Getting started. Facing the blank canvas. Lately I have been trying to have several paintings going at once. That seems to help. It also helps when I hit a place in a painting where I really don’t know what to do. I just move to another painting.
Time. I read a quote once that said an artist is rich when they have time. I am fortunate in that I do not have a ‘day job’, however, making art a priority with my time is a challenge. I think it might help to have a studio outside of my home where I can pack my lunch and go to work.
Galleries. As successful as I have been, it would be an incredible help to have my art represented by galleries of some level of prestige. This can really help in increasing the value of the work. Also I respond best to deadlines and galleries provide deadlines. Also they provide collectors, locations, etc.
KT: Getting started. Facing the blank canvas. Lately I have been trying to have several paintings going at once. That seems to help. It also helps when I hit a place in a painting where I really don’t know what to do. I just move to another painting.
Time. I read a quote once that said an artist is rich when they have time. I am fortunate in that I do not have a ‘day job’, however, making art a priority with my time is a challenge. I think it might help to have a studio outside of my home where I can pack my lunch and go to work.
Galleries. As successful as I have been, it would be an incredible help to have my art represented by galleries of some level of prestige. This can really help in increasing the value of the work. Also I respond best to deadlines and galleries provide deadlines. Also they provide collectors, locations, etc.
'SONATA'
AOTW: Can you share what a typical day of work entails from morning to evening?
KT: Typical and I don’t get along and can be the death of my creativity so I try to keep it interesting. Lately I have been so focused on writing my brochure and getting it printed that I have not been doing much painting. I have found that I have extended periods happen when I am not painting and when I go back to it I have made an internal leap that causes the same in my work.
AOTW: How do you decide what form your work will take on any given day relative to painting an abstract piece or say an image from nature?
KT: I just pay attention to what is pulling on me.
KT: Typical and I don’t get along and can be the death of my creativity so I try to keep it interesting. Lately I have been so focused on writing my brochure and getting it printed that I have not been doing much painting. I have found that I have extended periods happen when I am not painting and when I go back to it I have made an internal leap that causes the same in my work.
AOTW: How do you decide what form your work will take on any given day relative to painting an abstract piece or say an image from nature?
KT: I just pay attention to what is pulling on me.
'SEISMIC'
AOTW: What is your favorite choice of medium if you have one?
KT: Oil paint, I love it. I also love charcoal. They are both so yummy and rich.
AOTW: What is your favorite subject in nature that you come back to again and again in your work, and is there one you would like to explore through your art that you have not?
KT: I seem to keep coming to birds. My greatest desire is to go mythical and combine the figurative and abstract. My painting “Walkin’ Bear” is the closest I have been to achieving that desire.
KT: Oil paint, I love it. I also love charcoal. They are both so yummy and rich.
AOTW: What is your favorite subject in nature that you come back to again and again in your work, and is there one you would like to explore through your art that you have not?
KT: I seem to keep coming to birds. My greatest desire is to go mythical and combine the figurative and abstract. My painting “Walkin’ Bear” is the closest I have been to achieving that desire.
'WALKIN' BEAR'
AOTW: How do you deal with the challenge of managing your time between painting and communicating on the internet via your blog and other social and artist sites, i.e., flickr, facebook, etc.
KT: Good question. I have noticed that I have recently hit some saturation point and have been neglecting my blogs. I do show up for computer time and networking, but I really listen to my feelings in regard to when it is time to stop. Something is going to have to go, I just haven’t figured out yet what it is. I do think it is very important as I have said. I also have met so many wonderful artists all over the world via the internet.
AOTW: Which artists of today inspire you?
KT: Zao Wou Ki, Willy Heeks, Rick Bartow, Alexander Innes, Manuel Neri, Jim Dine, Nathan Oliviera, the Zhou Brothers
KT: Good question. I have noticed that I have recently hit some saturation point and have been neglecting my blogs. I do show up for computer time and networking, but I really listen to my feelings in regard to when it is time to stop. Something is going to have to go, I just haven’t figured out yet what it is. I do think it is very important as I have said. I also have met so many wonderful artists all over the world via the internet.
AOTW: Which artists of today inspire you?
KT: Zao Wou Ki, Willy Heeks, Rick Bartow, Alexander Innes, Manuel Neri, Jim Dine, Nathan Oliviera, the Zhou Brothers
'SPRING MOON'
AOTW: If you set goals for yourself and your art, can you share them with us?
KT: Besides being world famous? I want to be successful. I want to have galleries representing me that are, in fact, successful in selling my work, so that all I have to do is produce and deliver and let go of figuring out the how and where. My goal is, always, to reach for more sophistication in the expression of my unique voice.
AOTW: What is your favorite inspirational movie related to art if you have one?
KT: Most recently Avatar. It is my new all time favorite.
The mythmaking and visuals surpassed what had been made thus far in my book.
KT: Besides being world famous? I want to be successful. I want to have galleries representing me that are, in fact, successful in selling my work, so that all I have to do is produce and deliver and let go of figuring out the how and where. My goal is, always, to reach for more sophistication in the expression of my unique voice.
AOTW: What is your favorite inspirational movie related to art if you have one?
KT: Most recently Avatar. It is my new all time favorite.
The mythmaking and visuals surpassed what had been made thus far in my book.
'DREAM WEAVER'
AOTW: Who is your favorite author and does reading inspire your painting?
KT: Besides looking at art books and a few spiritual authors I read fiction. I could go on and on with names of authors but I will simply say that reading replenishes my ‘image bank’.
AOTW: What kind of music do you enjoy?
KT: Rock, World Beat, a fusion of the two, classical, jazz. It really depends on my mood and the mood I am trying to create with the piece.
'LITTLE BEAR FISHES'
AOTW: If not painting and spiritual healing, what other field might you have explored?
KT: I am so grateful to have found my bliss in painting and healing, I don’t often ask that question. Maybe a filmmaker, for then I could bring it all together and really get my voice out in the world. Who knows? There is still time.
AOTW: Relative to art as self-discovery, do you have any personal issues that you are conscious of in a way that you feel you may be working out in your work? If so, can you explain?
KT: It seems every piece I have ever created has been a process of self discovery. The way I work keeps me at the edge. I paint and then I go in and do something to disrupt and then I go back in and find some harmony, then I disrupt again. It is an intimidating process but it is the only way I can create something that holds my interest. When I look at a piece of art that intrigues me it has a history to it of the artist’s process. I feel the artist and what they went through to make it, the decisions and emotions they made and felt, how they developed in the process. I go in and out of my fears and confidences constantly, facing the fears and developing the confidences. The paint has a life of its own, it is, in so many ways, out of control for me and that teaches me a certain proactive surrender. Here is a quote from Francis Bacon, "In my case all painting is an accident. I foresee it, yet hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it. It transforms itself by the actual paint. I don't in fact know very often what the paint will do and it does many things which are very much better than I could make it do. Perhaps one could say it is not an accident because it becomes a selective process which part of the accident one chooses to preserve." I very deeply relate to this and the process is always one of discovery, whether it be the act of creation or the places the process takes me in myself.
KT: I am so grateful to have found my bliss in painting and healing, I don’t often ask that question. Maybe a filmmaker, for then I could bring it all together and really get my voice out in the world. Who knows? There is still time.
AOTW: Relative to art as self-discovery, do you have any personal issues that you are conscious of in a way that you feel you may be working out in your work? If so, can you explain?
KT: It seems every piece I have ever created has been a process of self discovery. The way I work keeps me at the edge. I paint and then I go in and do something to disrupt and then I go back in and find some harmony, then I disrupt again. It is an intimidating process but it is the only way I can create something that holds my interest. When I look at a piece of art that intrigues me it has a history to it of the artist’s process. I feel the artist and what they went through to make it, the decisions and emotions they made and felt, how they developed in the process. I go in and out of my fears and confidences constantly, facing the fears and developing the confidences. The paint has a life of its own, it is, in so many ways, out of control for me and that teaches me a certain proactive surrender. Here is a quote from Francis Bacon, "In my case all painting is an accident. I foresee it, yet hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it. It transforms itself by the actual paint. I don't in fact know very often what the paint will do and it does many things which are very much better than I could make it do. Perhaps one could say it is not an accident because it becomes a selective process which part of the accident one chooses to preserve." I very deeply relate to this and the process is always one of discovery, whether it be the act of creation or the places the process takes me in myself.
'ANGEL'
AOTW: What is the largest (sized) work you have completed to date? Do you have a preference for working in a particular size or format?
KT: 10’x 4 1/2’. I prefer to work large. It is my goal to create a context where painting large is truly viable, in that there are buyers and places to show.
AOTW: What else would you like to share with our readers about yourself, your art, life.... the direction the world is headed?
KT: If I pay attention to the worldly part of where the world is heading I would find it rather depressing, but I don’t because it is not my job here. The truth is I feel highly optimistic because we have reached a point where there are so many spiritual people now with very developed high consciousnesses that anything is possible. I mean that in the very best sense. In recorded history there has never been a time like this. If we look at the worldly, we are looking at the dying part of the rebirth I believe is taking place. If we stay with the level of consciousness here now and participate in its expansion, we are part of the rebirth. Now that is exciting to me. I feel I am here to be a point of light and to spread the light, the fact that I get to paint while doing this is just icing on the cake.
AOTW: Thank you, Katherine.
Visit Katherine's website and blog at Treffinger Daily
KT: 10’x 4 1/2’. I prefer to work large. It is my goal to create a context where painting large is truly viable, in that there are buyers and places to show.
AOTW: What else would you like to share with our readers about yourself, your art, life.... the direction the world is headed?
KT: If I pay attention to the worldly part of where the world is heading I would find it rather depressing, but I don’t because it is not my job here. The truth is I feel highly optimistic because we have reached a point where there are so many spiritual people now with very developed high consciousnesses that anything is possible. I mean that in the very best sense. In recorded history there has never been a time like this. If we look at the worldly, we are looking at the dying part of the rebirth I believe is taking place. If we stay with the level of consciousness here now and participate in its expansion, we are part of the rebirth. Now that is exciting to me. I feel I am here to be a point of light and to spread the light, the fact that I get to paint while doing this is just icing on the cake.
AOTW: Thank you, Katherine.
Visit Katherine's website and blog at Treffinger Daily
