Artist Profile: Kathleen Flores

Kathleen Flores has been making art since childhood. She received a BA in Fine Arts from Indiana University in 1979, and an MA in Fine Arts from JFK University in Orinda, California in 1989. Art has been her vocation but not her profession.

Flores first came to California to work with artist Judy Chicago. Her work as a graphic artist got her the gig with Chicago, working in production with designers. “I've always had my fingers in graphic design,” says Flores. Along the way, she learned a lot about computer graphics and Photoshop.

Flores also has worked for Apple Computer, and as a junior high and high school art teacher. For the past 14 years she's worked for Kaiser Permanente; the last 4 years, as a communications manager, handling its intranet and internal corporate communications. “I've never been able to figure out how to be a professional artist only,” she says.

Flores' body of work includes figure drawings in pencil and pastels, mixed media paintings and print making. Some of her artwork started out as drawings that she scanned and printed then drew and painted on. “I am one of those people that has a psychological need to make art,” she says.

Flores has exhibited her work for years.  Her most recent show was at . “If given the choice, I would rather make it than show it,” she says. “But you don't make it to sit under your bed or against the wall. Showing is part of the cycle of creativity. You want to have it seen, but it's not my favorite part. I'm really a private person.”

Flores' current project began with a book found at . “My mother says that the reason my father came home from World War II is because she said the novena for him every day.” The book at St. Dominic's was on the mysteries of the holy rosary so Flores began discussing a joint project with poet Mary Julia Klimenko.

Flores and Klimenko made five books with artwork and poetry, one for each mystery of the rosary. Like all of her work, the project is deeply personal. “When you grow up Catholic, there is something really wonderful about it. It's full of ritual. This is a way to filter all of our Catholic school experiences,” says Flores. “When my father died, this priest gave me a rosary. He said many prayers had been made on this rosary.” The rosary became part of Flores' art project.

She also recently worked on a portrait of her grandmother Dolly. Flores' favorite piece is a painting called A Little Bird Told Me, a saying of her grandmother's.