| Artist | Kate Van Doren | Resides | United States Mexico |
| Website | Katevandoren.com healingwordsproject.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) is a contemporary artist whose realist paintings, drawings, and photography engage the layered complexity of the human condition. Through Empathic Realism, a process she has defined within her practice, her work reveals the quiet power, vulnerability, and resilience of lived experience. Rather than interpreting her subjects through a singular lens, Kate centers their voices, translating inner worlds and personal truths into visual language. Informed by more than two decades as a registered art therapist, her work integrates empathy, psychology, and collaboration. Through empowering mantras and shared engagement, her practice documents healing journeys—transforming adversity into meaningful expression and affirming the voices behind each story.
Kate earned honors degrees in Fine Art and Psychology from the University of Oregon (2002) and a dual master’s degree in counseling and art therapy from Marylhurst University (2006). She has developed numerous art therapy programs for diverse and underserved populations and mentors’ artists worldwide. As the founder of the internationally recognized Healing Words Project, Kate has documented the healing journeys of over 2,000 women through photography and painting. Recognized as an innovative early intervention program to prevent violence against women, the project continues to inspire and empower participants globally.
Kate’s artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, while being held in private collections worldwide. She has been featured in Art Basel Miami, Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, PoetsArtists, Mod Portrait, News Week Español and the Art Renewal Center. Kate was a finalist in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and earned 2nd Place in the prestigious international FIKVA award for painters. She was also a finalist in the Art Renewal Center (ARC) competitions in 2022, 2024 + 2025, and received 1st place artist of the year award with the Circle Foundation for the Arts. Kate’s work is part of the Peregrine Collection; a digitized art and literature time capsule sent to the moon. Kate is based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and the Pacific Northwest where she devotes her time to her family, 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 that conveys the strength and vulnerability intrinsic to the human condition. Working through the lens of empathic realism, Kate’s body of work examines elements of mental health and human rights through neuroscience and the power of positive words. Her current series is based on the Healing Words Project, focusing on empowering stories told by women and gender-expansive voices through their own words to raise awareness about gender-based violence, healing, and self-reclamation.
The Healing Words Project is a global art collective that reflects healing and empowerment stories of more than 2,000 women and gender-expansive voices. For this therapeutic project, participants choose personal mantras about reclamation and resilience, which are written on their bodies and photographed. Paintings from the Healing Words Project are created using these reference photos, combined with elements drawn from each participant’s lived story.
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, ARC Art Renewal Center 15th International Annual ARC salon, Circle Foundation for the Arts first place award 2025, and Fikva 2nd place award for painters 2022.
Upcoming Exhibitions
| When | Exhibition | Gallery |
| March 2026 | Solo exhibition: “Healing Words Project” | Museum of Queretaro (MACRO), GTO. Mexico |
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
2025
Tartget Painting Prize Finalist
Circle Foundation for the Arts: 1st place Artist of the Year Award
Finalist, ARC (Art Renewal Center)
2024
Feminism, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
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
