Inside Out: Introducing Katherine Vetne

Our Daily Red is pleased to continue our artist-in-residence series titled Inside Out. Every month, a new guest artist will have access to the platform to publish images and jot down thoughts about inspiration, obsession, creative failures and insights. Unlike an 'Open Studio' format which is predicated on potential sales, BR&S wants to provide the artist-in-residence with an outlet to place their practice in a more public realm, offering an expanded look at the creative process and placing emphasis on the time ideas and works take to mature. It is not expected that the artist produce anything finished or specific to BR&S in this time, only that they candidly share their explorations. Each artist will then invite an artist to follow them. The rules of the game specify that the guest must 1. work in a different medium, 2. live elsewhere, 3. write often and not think too much about what they post, 4. be someone whose inside the host artist is curious to see out.

Introducing: Katherine Vetne

I’m excited to introduce Katherine Vetne as our next Inside Out: Artist-in-Residence. I met Katherine on a cold March evening at the Nave Annex in Davis Square while scoping out the exhibition Black Ink: Printmaking in Monochrome. After spending some time wandering through The Nave’s newest exhibition space, I found myself engaged in a conversation with Katherine who was gallery sitting that evening. Katherine also happened to be showing a couple of works in this exhibit, including a stunning, incredibly detailed, large scale print from her body of work Structure/Safety/System. Her richly detailed work is influenced by biology, sociology and the cumulative nature of human habit.

As a 2009 graduate of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, Katherine has exhibited her work throughout Boston and has had several solo exhibitions including at The Hallway Gallery in Jamaica Plain and at the Lily Pad in Cambridge.

During our long conversation at the Nave Annex, we spoke about the importance of writing, criticism and the role organizations such as Big Red & Shiny play in contributing, cultivating, supporting and sustaining an enriching dialogue in the Greater Boston art community. For these very same reasons in 2010, Katherine founded The Boston Critique Group, an artist collaborative that acts as a platform for dialogue among creative professionals in Boston.

This September, Volume 2 of Big Red & Shiny celebrates one year since re-launching, and it’s fitting that Katherine is our next artist-in-residence. Starting this Fall, Katherine will start a new chapter in her life and attend the San Francisco Art Institute to pursue an MFA program in painting. I’m excited to read her thoughts and hesitations on making art and her transition from Boston to San Francisco.

Welcome, Katherine.