“Trees are individuals. They grow to survive, adapting to their environment, becoming contortionists to reach sunlight, bowing to larger neighbors. Their branches -festooned with lichens, moss, and mushrooms - reflect that. They develop personality and attitude, and interact with each other. They cooperate and conflict and they mirror us: part of a larger community, shaped by geography and circumstance.”
Katie DeGroot’s’ large watercolor paintings on paper are portraits of the branches she finds in the forest. She chooses them for their outfits - the more fungi and lichen that decorate them, the better. Their branches must also project attitude and personality so that when they are painted in groups, they wind up suggesting fascinating stories of life in the forest.
Katie DeGroot, born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1955, works and lives in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A. from New York University in 1977 and her work is in the collections of Agnes Gund, the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, the State University of New York, and Fidelity Investments. DeGroot has completed several artists in residencies at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY has exhibited in galleries around the United States
Katies is represented by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, with gallery locations in Chelsea, New York City at 529 West 20th Street and at 179 10th Avenue.