Kathryn Keller’s Ready to Unveil ‘Horizons’ Paintings at MV Chamber – First Tuesday Artwalk Nov. 1

Kathryn Keller has traveled the world, and like many an intrepid traveler, she has wielded that wanderlust in her professional life.

​When Keller returned to fine art in 2005, her seven years of vigorous travel prior to that “contributed to my worldwide, first- hand appreciation of the art and history of many cultures,” Keller says. That sensibility is reflected in Keller’s latest work, “Horizons,” her first-ever solo show at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton) throughout November, with a wine reception on November 1 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission‘s First Tuesday Artwalk. The monthly celebration of local art includes a host of downtown venues, including the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Seager Gray Gallery, the Mill Valley Public Library, Fitwise Pilates, Zener Schon Contemporary Art, the Depot Bookstore & Café and City Hall. And for the third straight month, the members of the Mill Valley Design District, whose shops and galleries are primarily centered around Miller and Locust avenues, including Poet and/the Bench, Kress Jack at Home and 7 on Locust, have joined the Artwalk. Receptions at each venue are Tuesday from 6–8pm. Here’s the First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.

“My recent work explores images based on text becoming an abstract language that creates a visual form in the paintings,” Keller says. “Along with mixed media and collage, the work moves within and around this controlled randomness without embracing traditional representation.”

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Keller graduated from Arizona State University with a BFA in Environmental Design. She spent most of her 20s exploring the world with her husband, and worked as a television series stylist in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a interior designer in San Francisco and various locations of the Bay Area. 

After those seven years of travel, Keller continued her studies at the College of Marin, and has painted and sculpted ever since. Keller lives in Sausalito and works out of a studio at the historic Industrial Center Building.  

“When I reflect on my art I sometimes think of the quote, ‘the world is my oyster,’ not in the sense that was originally intended, but rather in terms of the layers of development necessary to produce a pearl,” SHE SAYS. “An important part of how I create involves leaving traces of evolution at every step along the way. As a result, each work of art can be appreciated not only as a completed piece, but also as evidence of the various stages involved in its completion. In other words, how something is achieved is just as important as the achievement itself.”

The 411: Kathryn Keller exhibits her “Horizons” paintings at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton) throughout November, with a wine reception on November 1 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission‘s First Tuesday Artwalk. Here’s the First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.