Kathryn Geismar is an artist and psychologist who lives and works in Somerville, Massachusetts. Her interest in identity and internal harmony infuses her professional life in both areas.

My work explores the complex and often fragmentary nature of identity through portraits and abstract collage. My recent figurative series depicts adolescents ranging in age from 14-21.  These young adults are claiming an identity in an age when binary definitions of self are under question.  Materials include industrial Tyvek, canvas, translucent veils of Duralar, graphite, newsprint, inks and paint. Figures move in and out of focus; layers of mylar promote looking through; grommets pierce through layers like jewelry and at other times like windows into layers below.

My collages use newsprint “catchalls” as a jumping-off point. These are the paper drop cloths that catch unintentional marks and drips but also the ghosts of objects and paper shapes painted on top of them.  Discarded newsprint, graphite marks, painted lines and unconscious marks, tracing paper scraps, and fragments of drawings become generative seeds for new works.

In each instance, faces, shapes, and materials are placed next to or on top of one another, asking, “what happens, who am I, what changes, when I land here?”