Magical Manoeuvres: Kathleen Shellrude

May 11, 2019

Magical Manoeuvres: Kathleen Shellrude

I see emerald streaks of light zipping back and forth past ruby red flowers. Occasionally the streaks turn to dots, hovering, wings moving in a figure-eight pattern to keep them in one place. Now forward. Now backward. These are the only birds that can do this - a rarity, indeed.

Potter/painter Kathleen Shellrude relates to this flickering, but so-very-precise movement:

I would be a hummingbird: full of life, quick to move from one art from to another (and then return to the first), painted in the brightest and most vibrant of colours, and while seeming shy at first, the energy I carry with me would rival that of any neighbouring bird.

She says her patrons like to buy small to medium-sized pieces and often give them as gifts:

I make three types of art: intuitively created mixed media paintings in a style I’ve dubbed ‘magical realism’, organic, botanically inspired pottery pieces, and sculptural yet functional pottery with faces, moons, and crystals.

Kathleen’s paintings are rich and wonderfully feminine.

I find magic and purpose in everyday connections. Bright paints, metal leaf, layers of resin and spellwork are worked into my pieces. It is my deepest honour to find the divine in each leaf, to work with the cycles of the moon, and to see my imagination come to life.

But then she can make that quick hummingbird dart to a whole other place and a whole other medium to a place with “quirk.” She makes pottery that is funny but ... strange. The closest description of some of them might be: items inspired by zombies that have suffered some hilarious mishap.

My buyer’s bower would hold some of what my own does (bright colours, lots of energy, truth and honesty), but it would also hold treasures created with the cycles of the moon (as many of my pottery pieces are), with the sparkle and gold leaf that makes my paintings shine, and with semi precious stones, potion bottles, real butterfly wings and the promise of magic (as much of my pottery, likewise, is created with these items).