Kate Maggart- Visual Artist
I specialize in surreal art, using a variety of mediums including graphite, ink, watercolor, and oil paint. My work is often centered around my personal experience as a female-identifying person in our modern society and my take on womanhood historically. Within these themes, I also explore the use of object juxtaposition and the power of disorienting or unsettling imagery to relay a message.
I have wanted to be a working artist for as long as I can remember. As a teen, I was heavily involved in my town’s theatre programs, as well as any vocal performance opportunities available. Initially when auditioning to colleges, I was rejected by several vocal performance programs. I didn’t let this stop me, however, and was eventually accepted to MSU’s acting conservatory. There I received a BFA in acting and a specialization in costume design. This would be my first spark of interest in the visual arts. Post-graduation, I moved to Chicago, where I enrolled in the Second City Sketch Comedy school. While moving through their program, I participated in several other musical sketch comedy classes, improv programs, black box theatre shows, and comedy clubhouse shows. While in Chicago, I was also lucky enough to have an on-camera agent. While performing comedy throughout the city, I was also hired for small roles in commercials, television shows, and the occasional web series. Near the end of my time in Chicago, I was also producing and designing costumes for several comedy shows in the city.
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After about three years, I was ready for greener pastures and decided to move to Los Angeles. But as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side. I’d like to say that everything went smoothly when I arrived and that I had a happy ending in LA, but I did not. Not only did I have no friends, no money, no car, and no representation, but I was falling out of love with the reason I moved there in the first place. This was a turning point for me.
I stepped back from acting and began entertaining a dormant yet stirring interest of mine. The visual arts. When I eventually ran out of money completely, and my day job was only allowing me to live paycheck to paycheck, by partner offered to let me move in with them in sunny Las Vegas. I jumped at this chance for a new beginning. This marked the birth of a new passion pursuit, and I haven’t looked back since.
While in Las Vegas, I dove headfirst into the visual arts. I practiced every day for hours. I read technique textbooks, listened to art history podcasts, and reached within to remember all the skills I had learned in college. During the four years I spent on the west coast, I built an art business where I made and sold custom art, prints, and commissions. I experimented with and developed skills for any type of medium available; colored pencil, ink, acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, graphite, watercolor, charcoal, etc.
About three years ago, I returned to my hometown in Michigan to be closer to family and continue my art practice where it all began. Although the visual arts were not my first calling, I have grown to love the life I have created around it. Being near a growing and bustling city such as Detroit inspires me every day to create art that adds to the conversation and is unique to my voice. Many winding and twisting roads have led me here, and I couldn’t be happier or more fulfilled!