Kat Silent Water is a printmaker based out of Ankeny, Iowa, working in woodblock and linoleum relief since 2014. She recently embraced the alchemical properties of encaustic painting in her latest body of work, ‘Wax Cathedral’. Silent Water’s inspiration has taken root in Art Nouveau’s celebration of organic forms and cultural anthropology.
Silent Water earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Visual Culture from Iowa State University in 2015, with an emphasis in printmaking and painting. Her work has been exhibited across the state of Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri, in national group exhibitions. She also painted a Mural for the University of Colorado Boulder, College of Music.
About Kat’s Artwork: Wax Cathedral is a glance into a world we have yet to visit; the bee hive. The body of artwork celebrates the sisterhood and hard work of honey bees in North America. Capturing their sainthood of agriculture and modern struggles against incursion of mites, fungi and disease with beekeepers as watchful guardians of the hive.
Cathedrals are seen as hallowed ground. When individuals walk through the threshold of the sanctuary, they are transported to a safe place of spiritual solace. Cathedrals embellish every detail in their interior, allowing daily worries and hardships to dissipate. It creates an unworldly and beautiful place, as though you were in heaven itself.
Just as these spiritual institutions are maintained amongst a community of like-minded individuals, so is the hive of the honey bees. The unique fortress is founded on hard work and communication. It serves as an escape from the plague of predators and treachery. The worker bees build their interior with careful yet creative consideration.
The resilience shown in both the honey bees and beekeeper community have been the foundation of my artistic inspiration Although the enemies of mites, fungi and disease threaten the bee’s hallowed sanctuary, the beekeepers find ways to repair and mend these colonies with research and patience. Making the art of beekeeping even more valued just like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing and beautification of broken objects.
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