Kathryn Bilharz Gabriel holds a dual degree in Painting and Art Education from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, and an MFA in Fine Arts from The University at Albany.
Gabriel spent several years teaching undergraduate drawing courses at The University at Albany before returning to the Syracuse area, where she was born, to assume a full-time art faculty position at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School.
“I see my work as an expression of my environment, as well as a product of my fascination with the natural interactions between parts, people and things. The subjects of my paintings are often culled from mechanical parts in my immediate surroundings and my personal interests in meteorology, physics and the natural landscape.”
Gabriel comes from a family of engineers, doctors, chemists, and scientists – her grandfather was one of the first nuclear physicists in the country. While a deep affinity for science and technology is evident in many of her paintings, her work also explores the challenges of being a woman in a family dominated by these men of science.
More recently, Gabriel’s work has been influenced by observations of her baby daughter, who is already quite fixed on figuring out her own environment. “It’s like discovering myself again, a real out of body experience.” Recent paintings such as Raise, Locate, Glads and Teaching reference this new chapter in the artist’s life.
View more of Gabriel’s work on her website: www.kathrynbilharzgabriel.
