Kate Olsen Birner

media release: Linden Cohousing Art Gallery, 107 Sutherland Court, Madison, is featuring art by Kate Olsen Birner through April 27. Artist’s Reception and talk is Saturday April 20, from 2:00-4:30.

The show is entitled “Courage” and is a series of 28 portraits of people who have inspired the artist, Kate Olsen Birner, by living their lives with tremendous courage, often at great personal risk. It is an ongoing series that Ms. Olsen Birner intends to add to as long as she is capable of painting. Kate taught art for the Madison Public Schools for 33 years, and currently lives in Mineral Point.

The exhibition is not open to the public other than at the Artist’s Reception. If you wish to schedule a viewing at a time other than during the Reception on April 20, from 2:00-4:30, please contact Katie Kazan at 608.520.4536.

Artists statement:

This series, entitled Courage, started as a dream.  It began when I was teaching elementary art during shut down, and many of my students had no art supplies at home, so coming up with interesting projects was a challenge.  It was a few days before King Day and I wanted to create a unit honoring Dr. King and his work.  That night I dreamed the first painting in the series, not realizing, of course, that it was the beginning of a new artistic journey for me.  At first, I thought I should paint MLK Jr in his actual skin tones, and not in the blues, reds, yellows, purples, and other vibrant colors of my dream.  I had never done a portrait in unrealistic colors before, or with a quote on the canvas.  Then I thought, if I have a dream about a man who had a dream, I had better honor it!  So, I did.  Many of the portraits served as teaching tools and have a unit to go along with the image, as I was an elementary art teacher when the series began.  As the gravity of our current political situation has unfolded, and the perilous state of our fragile democracy has become apparent, my dreams have shifted, and I very often dream portraits of folks who speak to our current state as a nation.  Courageous women like Ilhan Omar, "If we are not actively fighting against regressive ideologies, we are contributing to making them grow."  I dreamed of John Lewis the night he died.  Current political or news events invade my dreams, as you can likely see. I often am asked why the portraits are blue.  Given they begin as dreams, I can only guess as to the workings of my subconscious mind, but I have a few theories.  Water is blue, the sky is blue, our country is singing The Blues right now, 71 percent of the earth's surface is water, and therefore blue, about 60% of humans are water, and therefore blue, so life is more blue than any other color.  Maybe if we focused on how much we have in common with each other, on our very Blueness, we would have more peace, more harmony, more forgiveness, more love, more laughter, more light and more hope.  Maybe that can help to save our democracy.