Artist and painter Katie Kmet has had a fair gap between her last art show – a graduation showing in 2012.
“It’s been 11 years since my Graduation show from Camosun College,” she says.
“I remember that night was so magical for me because that night I had sold a large framed photograph and as we were leaving, my boyfriend (now husband) told me he loved me for the first time.”
After a graduation show in 2012, life takes over for awhile. The Bulkley Valley resident was born and raised in Dawson Creek.
“I was able to move into an above ground suite with my boyfriend and start living the Victoria, BC life. Which mostly consists of working, biking and live music. I worked my way up to management and ended up staying for six years, only painting casually.”
Then, Kmet started to set sights on other things.
“I would visit my best friend who lives in the Bulkley Valley and fantasize about owing a home and getting out from underneath the city lifestyle.”
Come 2018 this became a reality.
“We had our first baby during the pandemic and it was really tough. No family in town and my best friend underwent an amputation. By the time my son was 6 months I needed help with post partum depression and anxiety. After seeking treatment and being more active, my whole life changed. I had more energy and motivation to start creating again. I started to paint more than I had in 10 years,” she said.
“I decided to stay home with my son and pursue my art business. I got inspired to create ‘Polychrome’ when I was experimenting with abstracting my landscape photos.”
With encouragement from friends and family Kmet applied for the show at Smithers Art Gallery.
“My old studio is now the nursery, so I set my paints up in our mudroom. When my son was sleeping and on weekends I got to work over 2022.”
Come twelve paintings and 1,000 colours mixed later, ‘Polychrome’ is a dozen acrylic paintings.
“The angular effect shown in the series of paintings, really speaks to me as someone whole has always loved illustration, animation and video games. My hope for this show is entice the viewer with expressive colour and examine the ways technology shape the way we relate to our environment.”
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