Behind multiple exhibitions in Ix Art Park, several local murals and a recent piece at Burning Man lies Kathryn Wingate, a Charlottesville artist born and raised. Following her recent successes, Wingate is approaching new goals with the fierce creativity and originality of her work thus far.
Since beginning to work with Ix Art Park during the pandemic, Wingate has found significant momentum in her artistic career, particularly in creating public, community-oriented art. Between her work with Ix Art Park and several murals for local businesses, Wingate has found sharing her art with Charlottesville to be a “beautiful” experience.
“It was a really cool experience to work with other artists to bring those visions to life, but also to experience people in the community seeing the work and responding to it in a positive way,” Wingate said. “It's really inspiring and like seeing little kids go into it and be excited by it and then want to make art themselves.”
One of Wingate’s proudest accomplishments recently was bringing a collaborative sculpture that she designed and painted to Burning Man, an art festival in Black Rock City, Nevada. This piece, a larger-than-life sculpture depicting four perspectives of a human head, is indicative of some of her goals moving forward with her work.
“I really would like to do murals that reflect my personal work,” Wingate said. “I want to make more immersive versions of my pieces, more installation work, or just bigger, more involved paintings.”
From a young age, Wingate was interested in art, teaching herself how to draw and paint. Wingate studied Communication Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she came to realize that her true passion lay in painting.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to be an artist and have always felt a compulsive desire to create,” Wingate said. “It’s always felt like my mission to bring the non-physical visions in my mind into the physical world.”
Wingate attributes some of her interest in art to her experiences with synesthesia — a phenomenon characterized by the crossover of two senses in someone’s brain — causing her to perceive letters and numbers in distinct colors when she reads and writes. This relationship between color and communication inspires much of Wingate’s art.
“I think a lot about how to portray abstract sensations or feelings within the body that don't have human words to describe,” Wingate said. “I can explain [these concepts] visually, but I can’t always explain them with words.”
During the pandemic, Wingate spent several months designing and crafting two pieces as a part of Ix Art Park’s Looking Glass Immersive Art Space — “The Mad Traveler’s Treehouse” and the “Kaleidoscopic Cave.”
The Treehouse consists of a small, kaleidoscope-like room of mirrors, as well as several interactive light and sound elements, including a two-way mirror that reveals a hidden map upon the press of a button. The unique and whimsical space lays out the story of a past fictional “traveler” to be unfolded by visitors.
The Kaleidoscopic Cave is a part of Ix Art Park’s event space. The windowless space — once known as “The Rabbit Hole” — was transformed by Wingate into a colorful, magical space.
According to Wingate, the common thread throughout her work lies in an “inner reflection”.
“The treehouse has this opportunity to look into these mirrors and sit within the sacred reflection of yourself in the space,” Wingate said. “Then in the cave … it's a magical experience of being in this sacred little cavern.”
This exploration of self is furthered in Wingate’s personal artwork, which consists primarily of figurative oil paintings. These paintings — a variety of surrealist depictions of the human body — signify Wingate’s interest in illustrating and understanding the relationship between the human body and the abstract sensations that humans experience.
“I'm interested in how the physical form that a person is extends non-physically,” Wingate said. “I'm looking deep within myself and experiencing what it means to be alive and conscious.”
Powered by her authenticity and originality, it is clear that whatever Wingate creates next will be just as thrilling as her work thus far. Now in a part-time position at Ix Art Park, Wingate is taking the time to focus on her paintings and expanding the reach of her personal work.
Wingate’s work — including many of her paintings as well as photos and videos of her immersive pieces — can be found on her website and her Instagram.
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