Biography
Kathryn St. Clair was born in Long Beach, CA and grew up in Wichita Falls, TX with her three brothers.
"I was compelled to translate what I saw and felt into image from an early age," she says. "My mother found a wonderful, young private art teacher who fostered my artistic abilities and discipline from the age of twelve. To this day she remains a mentor of mine. I was lucky enough to have found strong female role models in my art teacher, my drama and debate coach and my equestrian instructor. In these activities I found a sense of purpose and responsibility. I was always pushed to my limits, and I strived to do my best."
Kathryn received her BFA in Studio Art with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. She went on to graduate with her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston in 1996.
After receiving her MFA, she spent the following year teaching English in Prague (Czech Republic) and continued painting and applying for a Fulbright Fellowship.
She was awarded the William J. Fulbright Fellowship to Spain for Painting from 1997-1998. Her proposal for the Fulbright involved researching images of women in traditional Catholic iconography and looking at how the attributes and symbols associated with the female saints and the Virgin Mary compared to images of women in the Spanish media.
"I am fascinated by the conflict of the biological and sociological urges we experience as women; the dichotomy of the temptress and the holy vessel illustrates this female predicament. The temptress is the illustration of the societal nurturing of feminine guile…the holy vessel is the metaphor for the reproductive role of the woman."
She has been painting and exhibiting in San Francisco since her return to the United States in 1998 and was an avid participant in the San Francisco Open Studios for six years. Her work has been represented in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Palo Alto.
Kathryn and her husband, Beau Bouverat, a filmmaker and commercial director, live in the Bay Area with their two young sons.
"I was compelled to translate what I saw and felt into image from an early age," she says. "My mother found a wonderful, young private art teacher who fostered my artistic abilities and discipline from the age of twelve. To this day she remains a mentor of mine. I was lucky enough to have found strong female role models in my art teacher, my drama and debate coach and my equestrian instructor. In these activities I found a sense of purpose and responsibility. I was always pushed to my limits, and I strived to do my best."
Kathryn received her BFA in Studio Art with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. She went on to graduate with her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston in 1996.
After receiving her MFA, she spent the following year teaching English in Prague (Czech Republic) and continued painting and applying for a Fulbright Fellowship.
She was awarded the William J. Fulbright Fellowship to Spain for Painting from 1997-1998. Her proposal for the Fulbright involved researching images of women in traditional Catholic iconography and looking at how the attributes and symbols associated with the female saints and the Virgin Mary compared to images of women in the Spanish media.
"I am fascinated by the conflict of the biological and sociological urges we experience as women; the dichotomy of the temptress and the holy vessel illustrates this female predicament. The temptress is the illustration of the societal nurturing of feminine guile…the holy vessel is the metaphor for the reproductive role of the woman."
She has been painting and exhibiting in San Francisco since her return to the United States in 1998 and was an avid participant in the San Francisco Open Studios for six years. Her work has been represented in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Palo Alto.
Kathryn and her husband, Beau Bouverat, a filmmaker and commercial director, live in the Bay Area with their two young sons.
