Summary
Katherine Spinella is an artist, organizer, and collaborator. Her research is focused on themes related to the attention economy and our cultural understanding of nature. She is a collage-based artist who employs printmaking, digital tools, sculpture, and video as primary mediums to raise questions about how we consume and relate to images, icons, and symbols. Using a playful, free-associative approach Spinella creates new narratives centered on labor, attention, and time that transform the refuse of commerce and everyday life into acts of renewal.
Spinella is a Co-Founder of Carnation Contemporary, Thunderstruck Collective, and Co-Director of Well Well Projects. Her work has been supported by grants from the Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Portland State University, Vermont Studio Center, Kala Art Institute, and Women's Studio Workshop. In 2023, she collaborated on a two-person team to launch, develop, and organize the first iteration of Form.a, an art press fair focused on artist-run spaces in Portland, Oregon. Recent exhibitions include Mood Ring, a two-person exhibition, at Nightengale Gallery in La Grande, OR, Dandelion, a solo exhibition, at Well Well Projects in Portland, OR; Summer Sampler at Museum of Museums in Seattle, WA; and inclusion in the 2023-24 Pacific Northwest Drawers at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR. This year, Spinella’s work was collected by Soho House and will be featured in the 2024 opening of the Soho House Portland.
Publications
Shell, Blake. “Where the Future Can Meet.” Conversations: Exploring Crossover. Web. 4 Feb. 2023
Redmond, Eden. “A Place for Reimagining.” Overlap and Outliers. Print. 31 Aug. 2022
Costello, Lindsay. “Facing the sun (tunnels).” Oregon Artswatch. Web. 21 Sept. 2021
Waldron-Brinton, Sarah. “Thunderstruck Collective.” PARC Collective. Web. 15 Oct. 2021
Curci, Luca. “Interview with Katherine Spinella.” Future Landscapes. Web. 15 Jun. 202
Herron-Root, Raechel “Shining a Light on Portland’s Art Scene: 10 Exciting Venues.” Hyperallergic, Web. 23 Oct. 2019
Connelly, Brittney. “Mining the Recycling Bin: Katherine Spinella.” Script Podcast. Apple Podcasts. 16 Feb. 2019
Gilsdorf, Bean. “Portland’s Artist-Run Spaces Thrive Under The Radar.” Art in America. Web & print. 12 Dec. 2018
Education
- MFA, University of Oregon
- BFA, Central Michigan University