Artist Bio
Artist Kathleen Best Gillmann lives outside Washington, D.C., but grew up in New England. Growing up in a rural locale with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors year round stimulated her imagination and love of nature.
With encouragement from her high school art teachers, she began photographing and sketching outdoors. She majored in studio art and art education in college and has more recently studied painting and drawing at the Art League in Alexandria, VA. Today, she continues to find inspiration in the natural world and her professional reputation has been growing in recent years for her waterscapes and landscapes. Since 2006, when she began submitting to juried shows, her artwork in a variety of media has received several awards from professional jurors and frequent people's choice awards. Most notably, “March Thaw,” (oil) received Best in Show, in January 2018 from juror Ephraim Rubenstein at the Art League's Open exhibit that month. Recently, "Brooding Sky" (pastel) and "Tidal Reflections" (oil) received Honorable Mentions at monthly juried shows at the Art League in 2021 and 2020 respectively. "Inundated (Intertidal, 8)" (acrylic) took the Bose Gallery Award (best in its category) at the Art League's 'Scapes show in 2013 juried by Elizabeth Klimek Additional awards include Honorable Mentions for "Midday Awakening" From Ted Reed (2014) and for "New Growth" from juror Elizabeth Peak ('Scapes 2015) and Second Place Award from juror Edward C. Knipper in 2014 for "Solitude (Coastal Maine, 7)." In 2014, a collection of Ms. Gillmann's work was exhibited at the National Institutes of Health, East Gallery and curated by Fitzgerld Fine Arts. In July 2016 she was delighted to have a solo exhibit at the Art League Gallery and later in the summer four paintings were selected for inclusion in "Splash" a water-themed group show at Gallery Flux. Ms. Gillmann's work acrylic, pastel, and other media is held in private and corporate collections from Maine to Florida. |
Her current work is exhibited at two galleries:
Arches Gallery in Building W-9, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA Gallery 75 , Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 North Union Street, Alexandria, VA 
Inundated (Intertidal, 8), Acrylic, 2013
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