Paintings: Nostalgic Impressionism by Kathie Odom

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Kathie Odom was born, raised and educated in Tennessee. She grew up riding bikes and walking to school as a suburban kid in the 60's, but it was in the 70's when her high school art teacher planted a vision that lives on today.

After graduating from the University of Tennessee in Art Education and Fine Arts, Kathie received early recognition for pastel works in 1982. But it was in 2009 when plein air painting set her on course for a career as an oil painter.

Kathie resides in Knoxville but travels extensively, participating in plein air events and teaching workshops. Kathie shows her original works in some of the finest galleries in the south, including Charleston, Atlanta and Seaside, Florida. She has received over a dozen awards in the last three years, including the Raymur Award given to her in Wayne, Pennsylvania by T. Allen Lawson in 2016. Kathie was also chosen by Southwest Art magazine as July, 2016's "Artist to Watch." More of her credentials may be found on KathieOdom.com/about.

ARTIST STATEMENT: Landscape painting feels like a new-found love, but it’s actually an old one, rediscovered.

Now I am expressing what has influenced my creativity for a lifetime . . . childhood memories of having both my father and grandfather in the building trade, an ever-present attraction to God, and a high school art teacher who showed me I had an ability to create beauty.

Beauty and creativity connect me with God. When I am building oils into a canvas, something is happening with God in me that cannot be explained with the word connection. With God I begin to paint with my gut, even from my toenails. And it draws me even nearer to Him and His people, which then takes me back to the dwellings, homes and landscapes that I paint. I wonder: Who lived in them? What were their lives like? Did they recognize God in their surroundings as I do?

With gratitude I am beginning to see what I have been given, and I am now accepting this gift of painting.