Art Talk

In the 3rd week of our new series, “What are you Working on Now?” I have talked to another fascinating artist about her current work and those projects that she is looking forward to tackling in the near future. Meet Katrina Geenen, a resident of the Valley and local collage artist.
Geenen moved here in the summer of 2010 after visiting earlier in the spring. She realized it had a burgeoning art community that she wanted to be a part of.
Her BFA in studio art was received from University of Texas at Austin. She has always been attracted to shiny things and was doing drawings with Prismacolor pencils and found that she was not able to achieve the effects she wanted to, so she started using collected papers that are glittery, hologram, shiny and metallic. Thus began her experimentation with collages and mandalas in particular. She likes that making mandalas is meditative and therapeutic, and she does them as a way to transcend the ordinary.
She gets her materials from various sources and has used gift bags that she cuts up, embossed origami paper and other sparkly papers to construct her art works.  Symmetry, color and balance are important in her process, and she loves how putting complementary colors next to each other creates an electric color combination.
She is currently working on Christmas cards and presents, and has some ideas for some future collages. On a recent trip to Walmart she discovered silver sparkle foam board and has plans to use that as a basis for a new work. She also wants to make some rainbow mandalas.
Geenen says that she wants “to beautify the world one sparkle at a time,” and I think this is evident in her work. Her greeting cards and collages can be seen at Bozarts Gallery on Main St.