Color, nature, humans, spirit. Movement, memory, relationship, response. These are Kate Fetherston's inspiration and method of exploration.
Fetherston's work is influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi which leans into the imperfection, temporality, and bittersweet nature of life. These paintings reflect a response to felt experience----of the natural world, of memory and spirit, of the humbling place that being human occupies in a great mystery. She is interested in the intersection and confluence of sensory experience with what she can only call listening.
Her academic background is in philosophy, music, poetry, and social work. She comes to visual art with a ragbag of training and a great willingness to experiment, fail, and keep going. The process is intuitive, yet she brings questions and obsessions to her work.
Fetherston uses several mediums, often on the same surface----adding and subtracting layers and using a variety of textural elements. Having a lifelong visual impairment, she is very interested in seeing. Unique as a fingerprint or a voice, people see so differently, yet we’re here together. Her work aims to investigate and honor this ‘being here together.’ For this brief and amazing time.
Kate Fetherston has a BA in Philosophy, an MSW, and an MFA in Poetry. She’s the author of two books of poetry, Until Nothing More Can Break (Antrim House), and This Far from Perfect (Longleaf Press.) Her third book will be published by Longleaf Press in 2026.She’s co-edited anthologies of poetry and craft talks. Kate’s visual art shows in Vermont and New Hampshire and is in private collections across North America. Kate’s the recipient of grants in both poetry and visual art from Vermont Studio Center and the Vermont Council on the Arts. She is a clinical social worker in private practice in Montpelier, Vermont.
