Katie DeGroot

Katie DeGroot was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan and raised in the suburbs of Boston, MA. She attended New York University and Illinois State University before spending nearly 20 years in New York City. 

Katie DeGroot is interested in surrealism and abstraction, nature and form, growth and decay. The oil painter turned to watercolor in 2003 during an artist residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY. A walk in nature, careful observation, and a curious mind led her to pick up a leaf and draw it, coloring it with organic, richly hued watercolors. The medium came to her naturally, its immediacy and vibrancy a natural pairing with her style. 

DeGroot paints tree trunks, fallen branches, and limbs found on the ground, often in the process of decay, or “natural decoration that adorn them… festooned by lichens, moss and mushrooms.” The artist brings her subjects back to her studio, sometimes even pieces as large as a 7’ section of a decaying tree she’s eyed in neighboring woods. Using the branches as an observational starting point, the painter responds within the language of contemporary painting. Her work is informed by Gladys Niilson, Alice Neel, Giorgio Morandi, Henri Matisse, Charles Burchfield, Barbara Takenaga, and others. 

“After some time working with the branches and tree trunks I realized that my muses could be arranged to interact between themselves, forming an anthropomorphic story,” shares DeGroot. “Sometimes these interactions are based on my personal life, or social situations, but they have always responded to something specific in the gesture or attitude of the actual real object. Having spent many years now looking at trees and forests, I am continually amazed at their individuality, adaptability, and perseverance within a connected society. Perhaps it would benefit our own communities to consider the ways that trees abide.”

The artist currently lives on her great-grandparents’ farm next to the Hudson River in Fort Edward, NY with her husband raising beef cows, growing peonies for market, and working out of her art studio. The work of Katie DeGroot has been exhibited nationally and is in public and private collections including those of Agnes Gund, Tang Museum, and Illinois State University. DeGroot has completed artist in residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY (2004, 2003, 1999), and is represented in galleries across the United States.