Katha Seidman, received her MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts, Bard College, NY. She received a Fifth Year Certificate and diploma at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She also received an Emmy Award for John and Abigail Adams and has Emmy Nominations for Desperate Crossing and Witch Hunt.
Artist Statement:
Katha Seidman’s work begins with space: landscape space; architectural space; spaces to walk into or to pass through. Seidman designs arenas that contain ephemeral journeys through unexpected times and places.
In her hanging constructions, Seidman uses plaster to articulate the substructure of painted seascapes, rock structures or city walls. Then, she might cut holes or use zippers to expose regions beyond the surface. Or she might encase the whole image in a wire grid, a cage that tries to trap the fleeting moment. Each layer reveals another space to explore.
Seidman often places found objects in front of the painted surface, juxtaposing the real with the imaginary. She chooses objects because they evoke memories. A stone pockmarked with ridges echoes waves sweeping the sand at low tide. A smooth glass globe caresses the palms of her hands, and she remembers cool, rounded beach stones under her feet. Watch gears evoke stars glittering in the night sky. As a component of Seidman’s unfolding space, each object combines with each opening to deepen the narrative contained within the piece.
A two-time Emmy Award winning production designer, Katha Seidman’s set designs informs her multi-dimensional work. She participated in UVA’s Healthful at the Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery and Olympic SPIRIT at Boston’s City Hall’s Scollay Square Gallery.
Her personal artist website is http://www.kathaseidman.net/