Drawing is the foundation of art for me. I use it to gather visual information, I use it to improve my focus, and I use it as a basis of every work I make regardless of the medium I am using.

My most recent works are made using drawing and painting to document natural subjects that many people don’t notice. I work in watercolor and tempera on a variety of surfaces. I am currently building a body of work representing plant life in Western MA that I find while hiking in the area.

Throughout the month of June, 2010, Twenty Three works from this collection were on display at the Burnett Gallery in Amherst MA in a show I entitled “Hidden Wonders”. These works span the months of January through May in the Pioneer Valley. Eventually I would like to have a collection of works that span all four seasons.

I experience a profound pleasure when communicating with my drawing and painting. Botanical painting has always been intended for this purpose. If the purpose is not there, it has no meaning for me. My work doing botanical painting is based on my desire to create accurate visual documents of my subjects- in the hopes that it will encourage viewers to look more closely at the world around them.

In August I will be continuing this work but will be choosing my subjects in the Cloud Forests of Costa Rica where I will be spending a month devoted to painting and drawing plant life for a nature reserve. I know that this environment will offer me infinite new subjects and inspiration.

I love to teach art and do this individually, as well as in groups. As a visiting lecturer I offered drawing workshops to students at Holyoke Community College, in how to use drawing to study nature. These workshops were one of the sources of inspiration for my desire to create this current body of work.

I graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I studied Scientific Illustration. I am originally from LaPorte Indiana, and currently live and work in my home studio in

Northampton Massachusetts. Contact : theresekim@comcast.net