KJ Bateman

ABOUT THIS ARTIST

KJ Bateman, Artist

I’ve been making things as long as I can remember. I once made a fish with tulle, soap and sequins. I don’t have the fish but I do still have a ceramic turtle.

I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Colorado, Germany, Pennsylvania and California. Always being the new kid left me feeling like the outsider, which is both a difficulty and a gift.

After receiving a B.F.A. from the University of Southern California, I moved to Seattle to attend the M.F.A. program at the University of Washington where I studied with Jacob Lawrence.

Using oils, acrylics and mixed media, I explore a variety of themes that recur in my work. I paint a subject intensely for a while, leave it and move on to another subject, only to circle back again. I work from real life and invented space, intermixing the two.

I also change media. I was trained as a printmaker but left that behind as the cost of setting up a personal print studio was prohibitive. Acrylics seemed best suited to a home studio, easy clean up and ventilation requirements. I was thrilled when I took a class in solvent-free oil painting. To be able to paint with oils again is bliss. Lately, I’ve returned to printmaking with a small press.