Artist | Kate Van Doren | Resides | United States Mexico |
Website | Katevandoren.com | Medium | Oil Pastel Charcoal |
Print Shop | katevandoren.com/shop artsy.net/kan-van-doren | Katevandoren@gmail.com | |
Representing Gallery | 33 Contemporary Gallery Miami, FL. USA | Themes | Human rights The Human Condition Nature Positive Psychology The power of Words Mental Health Healing after trauma Elevating Voices of Women Gender based violence of women and the LGTQ community |
Follow the Artist | Instagram | Facebook | Press | katevandoren.com/cv |
About the artist
Kate Van Doren (American, b.1978) explores human resiliency, connection, and the healing power of nature through realism paintings, drawings, and photography.
Having worked as an art therapist in the mental health field for more than two decades, Kate offers a unique lens, cultivating connections with her inspirations to foster their stories about the human condition. She is deeply devoted to creating art that raises healing awareness in the lives of others.
After receiving an honors degree in Fine Art and Psychology from the University of Oregon (2002), Kate earned a double masters in Counseling and Art Therapy at Marylhurst University (2006). As a board-certified art therapist she has developed and administered art therapy programs for homeless at-risk youth, persons with severe and persistent mental illness, trauma survivors, the elderly, and hospice care. She provides art therapy and art mentorships to artists and art therapy students around the world.
She is the creator of the Healing Words Project, a photography and painting safe space workshop for women. The Project comprises stories and photos of over 2,ooo women recognizing their healing journeys. Healing Words Project has been recognized in multiple international publications, including Newsweek Español as an early intervention program to prevent violence against women.
Kate’s Paintings, drawings and photographs are exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and have been acquired by private collections internationally. She has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, and PoetsArtists, Mod Portrait and the Art Renewal Center among other publications. In 2022 she was an ARC and Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Finalist. She also earned 2nd Place in the international FIKVA award for Painters. Her work was selected for inclusion in the Peregrine Collection, a time capsule of digitized works of art and literature sent to the moon. Kate is based in San Miguel de Allende, México, where she devotes her time to her family, her art therapy practice, activism work, and her fine art studio.
Artwork Themes & Subject Matter
Kate Van Doren is best known for creating representational photo realistic imagery conveying the strength and vulnerability intrinsic to the human condition, integrating the healing capacity of nature. Kate’s body of work examines the elements of mental health and human rights through the power of positive words. Her current series is based on the Healing Words Project focusing on women’s empowering stories through their own words to raise awareness about gender based violence, healing and self reclamation.
The Healing Words Project is a global collective comprised of photographs and paintings of over 2,000 women’s stories about healing and empowerment. For the therapeutic project, women choose personal mantras about the strength of all women, which are then written on their bodies and photographed. Paintings from the Healing Words Project are created using the reference photos combined with elements of the participants’ life stories.
Press
Kate Van Doren’s paintings have been featured in notable magazine, publications and online sources including 33 PA, She Writes Press, American Art Collector, Poets and Artist, New York Times, News Week En Español, Mexico News Daily, Brushes with Cancer, 10 Years Of Sharing, Connecting, And Healing, Realism Today artist Spotlight, Beautiful Bizarre Art Award finalist on-line publication, San Miguel Local Guide, Atención San Miguel and Ser Mujer San Miguel, Mujer for International Women’s Month, Poet’s Artist Hashtag Art Magazine, Twist out Cancer Interview, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, Poets Artists Goss 183, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, mod portrait 2021, Guia De Leonardo 2022, and ARC Art Renewal Center 15th International Annual ARC salon.
Upcoming Exhibitions
When | Exhibition | Gallery |
March 2024 | Group exhibition: “Feminism” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Miami, FL. USA |
April 2024 | Group exhibition: “Garden” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Miami, FL. USA |
September 2024 | Group exhibition: “Love” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Miami, FL. USA |
October 2024 | Group exhibition: “To be announce” | Stirling dickenson Dist. Gallery San Miguel de Allende, Mexico |
October 2024 | Group exhibition: “Stillness” | 33 Contemporary Gallery Miami, FL. USA |
December 2024 | Group exhibition: “Context Miami/Art Basil” | Miami, FL. USA |
CV
Education
2007 Double Master’s in Art and Counseling Art Therapy- Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR. USA
2003
BS Psychology-University of Oregon, OR. USA
BFA-University of Oregon, OR. USA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
El Dia Sin Mujeres: Oraciòn Por Las Desaparecidas/ The Day Without Women: Honoring the Stolen, Fabrica Aurora Gallery, San Miguel de Allende Mexico.
2020
El Dia Sin Mujeres: Taking our Voices back International Women’s Day, Fabrica La Aurora Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Intersections, Bajio Gallery, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
The landscape, Bajio Gallery, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
2018
The Running, Jen Garay Art Gallery La Fabrics Aurora, SMA Mexico
2019
The Calling, Van Doren Studio Gallery, Fabrica La Aurora, Mexico
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Context Miami Art Fair, curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
Paint The Figure Now, curated by David A. Hummer, Waussaw Museum of Contemporary Art, WI. United States
Mujer, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Poets Artist, Miami, FL. United States
2022
Twist Out Cancer Brushes with Cancer, WNDR Museum, Chicago, United States
Fikva Foundation International, Fikva Award
Just Nudes presented by 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
Contemporary Realism, curated by Didi Menendez, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
Mujer, curated by Didi Menendez, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
2021
Unapologetically Man, curated by April Carter grant for Poets Artists, 33 Contemporary Gallery, (Through Thorns), Miami, FL. United States
Quest For The Modern Figure, curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
International Women’s Day, curated by Didi Menendez, 33 contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
ICONIC, curated by Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt and Steven Alan Benett, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, WI. United States
Facing The Universe: The Cosmos Within, curated by Menendez and D. Hummer, Wausau Museum of Contemporary art, (A Life Within Her), WI. United States.
Twist Out Cancer, Brushes with Cancer, Chicago, United States
2020
Twist Out Cancer, Brushes with Cancer, Chicago, United States
Twist Out Cancer, Brushes with Cancer, The Fairmont Gallery, Austin, TX. United States
Monthly Group Exhibitions, Fabrica Aurora Art Galleries, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2019
Monthly Group Exhibitions, Fabrica Aurora Art Galleries, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2018
Monthly Group Exhibitions, Fabrica Aurora Art Galleries, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico