To view Kathy Carvellas' work, click here. 

Kathy Carvellas is a self-taught collage, mixed media and assemblage artist living in Pasadena, California. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1963, she spent her childhood in Mountainside, New Jersey and her teen and college years in Northern Virginia. She moved to Pasadena in 1992.

Art has always been an interest of hers for as long as she can remember. From kindergarten through high school, art class was always the highlight of her school week. While attending Fort Hunt High School in Northern Virginia, as a senior, she was one of a handful of students chosen to attend a print making class at the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art.
In 1984, after an unsuccessful attempt at a marine biology degree, she took time off from college and attended two art classes at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia in oil painting and drawing. She also took acting classes at a local theater. She applied to James Madison University’s art department, and, after being on a waiting list, was accepted into the program. However, being uncertain of her abilities, she chose to attend George Mason University and pursue a B.F.A. in acting. She graduated from George Mason in 1990. The next ten years or so were difficult and comprised of sporadic acting work, a lot of temporary jobs, and most importantly, taking the time to work through a very chaotic childhood.

JOURNEY INTO THE ARTS
In 2004, she found herself desperately needing an artistic outlet. She began creating two-dimensional thematic montages using imagery from various magazines and clip art sources. With further exploration and a new-found confidence, she began to pursue a different direction, creating, original, three dimensional collages. She now finds great joy working in photo-collage, mixed-media collage and assemblage. This past year she began reading up on the history of collage and assemblage, and has found inspiration in the work of artists such as Salvador Dali, Joseph Cornell and Kurt Schwitters.  Watching Terry Gilliam's animation on Monty Python's Flying Circus throughout her youth has also had a unique influence on her work.

SHOWS & EXHIBITS
She received “Special Recognition” for two of her pieces in 2007 from Upstream People Gallery’s “9th Annual Faces Online Art Exhibit”. Her first solo art show in June and July of 2008, at The Coffee Gallery in Altadena, California was very popular and a great success. Two of her pieces recently won merit awards in the "53rd Annual Bold Expressions International Art Exhibit" near Sacramento, CA. Her artwork has been published in the magazine “Somerset Studio Gallery” and the award winning art zine, “ARTitudezine”.  In November, two of her pieces were a part of “Art Knows No Borders”, a silent art auction benefiting Doctor’s Without Borders. 

INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
About her work, Kathy states that “No matter what form my artwork has taken, or will take, I find it to be an essential and intensely personal part of my life. It explores and expresses the inner workings of my heart, mind & spirit in a way that words cannot express. It is my hope that when people see my work, it will somehow resonate with them on some level, be it intellectual, emotional or spiritual. To cause them to, perhaps, think more deeply about themselves, the world around them and their place within it.”