Artist Bio
Art and creative expression have been constants for Katrina Griffith since early childhood. At first a kind of journaling – a way of commemorating fond memories and favorite things – art gradually evolved, with the passing years, into a means of processing more complex emotional landscapes. Her efforts to find a voice for her grief and melancholia emerged within her work, and her bond with the emotionally healing qualities of the artistic process fueled her desire to expand her artistic vocabulary.
Katrina pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from the University of South Florida where she graduated with honors. In the years that have followed, however, her art style has grown and continues to develop primarily through self-teaching, learning both classical and contemporary methods to help better hone her technique and execution in graphite and oil paint.
As she continues to grow artistically, she also continues to explore the void, putting faces and symbols to the things that haunt us in an effort to name and define them, and to show those who are struggling that they are not alone.
Artist Statement
Through graphite and oil paint portraiture, Katrina Griffith explores the depths of the darker emotions we so often prefer to ignore, and ventures to capture that liminal and lonely space we sometimes find ourselves within when steeped in an emotional un-wellness we feel we cannot express to others.
Using portraiture infused with symbolism, Katrina examines the complexities of grief, trauma, anxiety, and disconnection – from the world, one’s body, or one’s self – personal struggles and experiences informing the emotional backdrop for each piece. Her work gives consideration to thoughts as possible hauntings and reflects upon the idea of the haunted self, all while contemplating the question: how do we find our place in this world when we feel as though we have lost ourselves?
Through her work, Katrina strives to give voice to the feelings and struggles we attempt to suppress and conceal, with the hope that it will help foster honest introspection, conversation, and healing within.
Exhibition History
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Nov. 2023 – I Cannot Tell You How This Ends, Adele Grage Cultural Center, Atlantic Beach, FL
May 2022 – Losing Intangible Things, First Coast Cultural Center, Jacksonville Beach, FL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Sept. – Oct. 2023 – A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA
Aug. – Oct. 2022 – Things Unseen, Gainesville Fine Arts Association, Gainesville, FL
May 2021 Juried Artist Member Exhibition, First Coast Cultural Center, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Awards
May 2021 – First Place for Two-Dimensional Art, Juried Artist Member Exhibition, First Coast Cultural Center, Jacksonville Beach, FL