"We make our marks
our scratches and scrawls,
leaving our touch on this earth.
From small children
markers on a bedroom wall,
rocks etching shapes onto pavement.
Cave walls have always beckoned.
Big arcs traced with arms extended
becoming the animals of our dreams.
Drawing is what we love,
the way we embrace the world."

About Kat

Kat Fitzpatrick is an artist whose love for beeswax has led her down an unusual path. Ten years ago, Kat saw a tiny reproduction of a painting in an art magazine described as an "encaustic" and was captivated. It had a surface that the eye could penetrate and a remarkable luminosity. Further research revealed it to be an ancient medium (1800 years) undergoing a rediscovery by contemporary artists. After a career spent using more traditional media, encaustic painting took her down a road that would eventually include a study of traditional icon writing, backyard beekeeping and teaching workshops around the country inviting the artistically challenged to re-examine their beliefs using the medium of beeswax collage. Drawing on her experience of teaching art to children, Fitzpatrick delights in re-introducing adults to their creative and playful younger selves.

Having lost both her studio and most of her house to Katrina, Fitzpatrick is home at last in a new renovated studio — Katfish Studio — that was moved from nearby Waveland and dates to 1905.

Raising bees in her backyard as part of community recovery efforts has brought a greater appreciation for the plight of the bees globally and a small amount of wax to use in her art.

Kat has been featured on MSNBC's "Rising from Ruin" Web series, "Mississippi Roads" (a show profiling prominent artists in Mississippi), Public Broadcasting's "Southern Expressions", PRM's "Arts Hour", "South Mississippi Living" as well as "Coastal Living" magazine. Kat Fitzpatrick was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship (2010) from the Mississippi Arts Commission, as well as a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
 

Currently Represented by

• The Garden District Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Mockingbird Cafe & Gallery - Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
• Blue Skies Gallery, Long Beach, Mississippi
• The Caron Gallery, Tupelo, Mississippi

Upcoming Workshops

• John C. Campbell Folk School, North Carolina
• Snowbird Mountain Lodge, North Carolina