"kat irannejad, washington dc, 2002. polaroid by kirsten malone."
|
 |
Kat grew up in the Washington D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. Influenced in
her teens by D.C.’s energetic arts, music, and activism community of the early
1990’s, she was especially fortunate to live in close proximity to the city's
many museums, galleries, and DIY art spaces.
She started actively painting and drawing while attending Walt Whitman High
School, under the influential tutelage of Walter Bartman. It was there where she
first received attention for her work, winning awards and accolades, such as The
Scholastic Art and Writing’s National Portfolio Award, The Hallmark Corporate
Foundation Scholarship for Fine Arts, and was a national finalist for both the
National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ Presidential Scholar Award and the Arts Recognition and Talent Search.
In 1993, Kat moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she attended Boston
University’s College of Fine Arts, having received both the Constantin Alajalov
Painting Award as well as a full merit scholarship to attend the well-respected
program. While in Boston, she studied under renowned artists like John Walker and Alfred Leslie, who proved to be vital influences in encouraging her development as a young painter.
Returning to D.C. in 1998, Kat worked for art administrative and conservation
organizations while pursuing design-related projects on the side, including a
line of kitsch greeting cards, freelance flyer and logo/brand designs, as well as
assisting in the production art for various websites. During this period she
exhibited her work sporadically, and in 2002, was selected as a Virgin Atlantic
Spotlight Artist, resulting in a solo show in Washington Dulles International
Airport’s Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.
Kat currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is completing a Master of
Fine Arts in Painting in conjunction with a Master of Science in Art History at
the Pratt Institute. She is a member of the Washington D.C.-based arts
collective, District of Ladies, and has most recently exhibited her work at the
Linc Art Gallery in San Francisco, The Naked Duck Gallery and Danny Simmons’
Corridor Gallery, both in Brooklyn, and the MOCA DC-Museum of Contemporary Art in Washington D.C.
Finding the figurative form within the abstract (and vice versa), concepts of
nostalgia and memory, and conveying a physical and mental landscape, are all
catalysts behind the explorations of tactile color and atmosphere that Kat
continues to pursue.
More work can be seen on her website: www.clipstyle.com
|
