Kathleen Dawson
Kathleen Dawson studied Fine Arts at Queen’s University in Kingston followed by a Master of Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Kathleen established her first professional studio in Brooklyn where she created large scale, Expressionistic oil paintings. Her early successes included selection in a juried show at Ecole de Beaux Art in Paris, and a solo show at The National Arts Club, New York. Her painting practice continued after she moved to Toronto where she has maintained studios in Parkdale’s Liberty Village and now, for over 10 years, in the Junction neighbourhood. Her work has evolved to the creation of more conceptual and contemplative paintings, drawings and mixed media works exploring her love of nature and experiences as a daughter and mother.
Her work has been widely exhibited in both New York and Toronto and is held in numerous corporate and private collections.
Observation of natural specimens, inspired by Kathleen’s long career in museum education and her passion for gardening, provides the subject matter for her mixed media artwork. This theme is joined with a strong sense of time and place through landscape images and objects holding personal memories. The visual language of her work communicates ideas through the contrast between quiet, meditative drawing and painterly, gestural brushwork. Compositions combine layers of floating imagery, appearing in and out of focus , together with large areas of silent, haunting negative space.
The temporal phases of daylight, and the balance between light and dark are explored as a visual metaphor for life’s shifting cycles in this trio of paintings.
The joy of pure painting is emphasized through loose, gestural brushwork and the rendition of light through colour. The landscape is captured through a deep sense of space. Prismatic colour wheels are an important graphic element and establish tension within the composition. Together these visual and symbolic components represent the evolving intervals found in both nature and life..
Kathleen Dawson’s work is on permanent display at the gallery. To see more of her work go to our online SHOP.
Kathleen will be having a solo show titled ‘Field Notes’at Melt Gallery
Thursday August 21st - Sunday September 14th 2025
Opening Reception August 23rd 1-4 pm..
“The theme of renewal, resilience, and rebirth is the focus of these three mixed media works. The natural imagery appears delicate and fragile at first, but evolves to evoke a deeper meaning of
quiet strength and endurance.
Natural specimens , closely observed from my own garden, are rendered delicately through a combination of painting and drawing techniques. A strong sense of movement, and the passage of time is captured through loose brushwork, and layered mark making. The compositions combine nature with small vignettes, almost cinematic-
like clips of close ups and fade outs of a distant landscape, skyscapes, and laundry fluttering in the breeze to reveal a fresh start, and new beginnings.”
