Kathleen Vlodek’s art takes another new turn
Many local rock and roll fans and live music supporters know Kathleen Vlodek as the bassist/vocalist (and sometimes guitarist) of the stellar punk band One Timers—fans of the band know that they create a variety of music and that their songs range in style from groovy to hardcore.
The same can be said for Vlodek’s visual art, which varies in style from playful and cute to dark and scary.
The work is extremely diverse and intricate, displaying a spectrum of styles, emotions, and subjects—a portrait of a cute little three-toed sloth, a glitter-encrusted woodcut print of a unicorn skeleton, or a woman in a plague mask hauling a cart through an environmentally decimated wasteland. It is almost hard to imagine that it all came from the same artist, but upon close inspection one can see a unifying sense of form, balance, and contrast.
An artist for life, Vlodek has always liked to draw anytime and anywhere, on anything. She tells us about her earliest creative experiences, saying, “My grandmother always had a pen in her bag that I would borrow to draw on napkins in restaurants, or (to her dismay), to draw in the bible at church on Sundays. I thought church was boring.”
Though she is always trying new approaches, most of her recent work falls into three categories—a collection of acrylic paintings of animals, a series of wood cut prints, and another group of mixed media assemblage paintings. The three bodies of work are distinctly different in style, and each have a different purpose.
“I like to make stuff that makes me feel better—or that makes people think, or laugh, or run away,” she says. “I kinda try anything out, because my wacky brain makes it hard to stay with one material for long.”
The collection of acrylic paintings are all portraits of animals and chimeras, rendered in a slightly cartoony realist style. These wholesome images are whimsical, fun, and overwhelmingly happy.
The wood cut prints are masterfully carved, mostly depicting skeletons of animals and sea life. These prints have made their way onto fliers, show posters, and t-shirts, and recently she has been applying paper prints to sanded and painted wood blocks.
Perhaps Vlodek’s most interesting pieces are a series of larger scale experimental mixed media assemblage paintings. In these highly personal and introspective works, she explores her emotions and memories with visual images.
The resulting paintings depict scenes that are terrifying and beautiful; from apocalyptic wastelands to swirling vortexes, each contains a narrative and a profound essence.
“I hope to affect others with my art in ways that it affects me,” she tells us. “I research and learn about the animals I paint, or I might be dealing with emotions that are expressed in metaphors. I like to see people laugh, or think—or just stand there in awe, or fear. I guess some of my favorite pieces I’ve done are the few that took a long time to complete, or ones that have a lot of deep meaning to them.”
Her work is mostly concentrated in Chattanooga, but she had a bit of commercial success during her time in the Sunshine State.
“I designed a specialty license plate for the State of Florida when I was living there being a marine biology nerd. It is to help protect wild dolphins and a portion of sales go to research.”
Vlodek is currently working on new pieces for her next art show, which is happening along with live music by One Timers and Tourist Trap this Friday at Frequency Arts. Though she is hesitant to disclose too many details of the new work, she explains it is something completely challenging, which always entails much emotion and patience —and it’s not even that large.
Her work can be difficult to find, however, as she doesn’t have a web page because, as she admits, she doesn’t have a very healthy relationship with computers.
“I think technically I’m on the Facebook but I try to pretend it doesn’t exist.” However, purchases can be made by contacting her via email at mipsailor@yahoo.com or on Instagram @Kvlodek