Katherine Houston turns passion for art into a second career

(Houston) Katherine Houston is not your typical painter. She devotes more than 60 hours a week to her work and instead of using canvas, she paints on the back of plexiglass. What may be most remarkable about this native Houstonian is that she did not start out as an artist. She actually began her career as an investment broker, and it was not until she left her job to raise a family that she began to study and produce art.

This hardworking artist will display her most recent series of paintings alongside Ray Phillips and Tamara Robertson at a group exhibit entitled “Intersection.” The public is invited to an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 27 at Laura Rathe Fine Art, 2707 Colquitt.

Houston is putting the finishing touches on her new series of plexiglass paintings for the “Intersection” exhibit. Her works have grown larger over the years, and while they are still lighter than glass, some weigh as much as 125 pounds. Just moving her pieces around in her studio can mean a lot of heavy lifting.

Houston first became interested in art when she met a neighbor who taught art classes. “I decided on a whim to sign up and at first, it was a bit of a struggle. In fact, I’m pretty sure my neighbor would have liked to get rid of me at times,” Houston laughs.

Even though she often was frustrated and sometimes left class in tears, Houston stuck with her studies. “I had the work ethic before I had the talent,” she said.

For the past 15 years, Houston has pursued her love of art, working in several media and styles and exploring varied subjects. Her studies continued at the University of Houston, Art League Houston and the Glassell School of Art, as well as under well-known artists Quang Ho, Will Clem, Ruth Munson, Polly Liu and Gary Hernandez.

Houston started painting on glass about three years ago and says she became enamored with the process. “I love the translucence you get that you cannot achieve on canvas, and I also love that glass forces me to paint loosely as the glass does not hold the paint the way that canvas does,” she said. “Before, my tendency was always to paint very tight or stiffly, but I love the loose painterly effect that I get from painting on glass.”

She is also fascinated by the process of painting in reverse. She explains that this art form has been around since the Middle Ages. The result is not intended to hang in a window with light shining through like stained glass but instead to hang on a wall with light directed towards the piece.

“Painting in reverse can be more challenging than painting on canvas,” she said. “You paint the foreground first, and your background and layers last. So you have to be very direct, because once you have applied the paint, it is very difficult to make changes. You can’t just paint over a mistake.”

Houston says she enjoys the challenge. The student who took one class a week now paints everyday. She experiments with acrylics, inks and glazes, and sometimes even collages paper to the back of her plexiglass creations.

Her work is featured in several galleries as well as in private and corporate collections. In Houston, her works are hanging at Laura Rathe Gallery. She is also represented by Pieces Gallery in Chicago and Ariodante Gallery in New Orleans.

The artist believes that her investment of time and energy in art has paid off. “I think my work has grown, even in a year. It’s more sophisticated, and that comes from doing. The more you do, and the more you look at art, the better.”
For more information about Katherine Houston, visit her website http://www.katherinehoustonart.com/