Kathleen Florance
Kathleen Florance lives and maintains her studio in the Midcoast area of Maine. She has worked with a wide range of materials and formats, including large environmental installations and community-based projects.
Florance’s work in the exhibition Paperwork is drawn from three series: “Tango,” “Continuum,” and “Between.” As she describes her “Tango” series: “As a less-than-graceful tomboy of a little girl, I had wonderful dreams of dancing … stepping, swirling, bending, twirling. My art is now that dance. This series, as with all of my work, is based on the forms and study of nature. In this case, I found great inspiration in the lines and spaces in the architecture of spider webs. Informed and intrigued by concept and structure, I began my dance - step in, step out, swoop and bend. Each piece is a new dance - moving and turning, bending and stepping - guided by line, charmed by color. Dancing to the last mark.”
The “Continuum” pieces similarly explore how forms and colors interact with space and line. “Between” is a continuing series focused on the relationships between symbols, color, and line and how those relationships speak to our 21st century environment.
Environmental Installation Projects
2002 - 2007
Circadia. A community-based environmental art project which provided leadership roles and academic credit to alternative education students of high school age.2001
Eye of the Elk. A collaborative “Art in Nature” Residency at the Art Center of Kingdom Falls, ME2000
Protection. An international environmental installation in two phases, one in Maine, one in Bulgaria.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015
Tango, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME2009
The Source and The Energy, Images from the series “Tessellation,” Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME2001
Protection, Photographic documentation from the installation, American Center, Sophia, Bulgaria
