Kathie Gatto-Gurney

Kathie Gatto-Gurney

American, b. 1960 Plainfield, NJ, based in Brattleboro, VT

Artist’s Statement

My work as a ceramic sculptor is influenced by my experience as a dancer.  The goal in my work is to translate fluid motion into solid form, so that it bends and twists from all perspectives.   I consider the positive and negative spaces and allow the intuitive process to guide my discoveries.  My process seeks to recreate the aliveness that exists between something improvisational and something composed.

Biography

Kathie Gatto-Gurney grew-up studying dance, receiving an MA in Dance from New York University, and spending much of her early career improvising and choreographing in New York City.  After relocating to Vermont, the artist began working in sculpture, with a focus on ceramics.  Gatto-Gurney’s work is made entirely of ceramic, with marble, granite, and tile bases.  The artist sculpts in many formats including wall hung and tabletop work, pedestal centerpieces, and free-standing garden sculpture.  The biomorphic forms Gatto-Gurney creates reference the human figure with shape, movement, and line.  Through the use of the textures and natural colors of the clay, the artist maintains a distinct abstraction in her complex organic forms.  The artist’s process considers the positive and negative spaces created with the bending and twisting in all perspectives of her three-dimensional compositions.  By allowing intuition to be part of her process, Gatto-Gurney seeks to recreate the aliveness that exists between something improvisational and something composed.