Kathleen Ogilvie

Raised in suburban Philadelphia by a Caribbean father and a European-American mother, Kathleen Ogilvie brings a diverse range of cultural traditions and experiences to her art. Ms. Ogilvie is continually inspired to create by viewing faces and peoples of varied backgrounds.

Ms. Ogilvie graduated from Howard University in 1992. She received an education in both African and African-American art making. While attending Howard, she continued to focus her artwork on portraits, as she has since her youth.

In 1997, Ms. Ogilvie earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) which she attended on a portfolio-based Trustee Scholarship. While attending SAIC, she studied historical and contemporary European artists. Ms. Ogilvie took part in a two week study trip to Egypt, learning about the ancient civilization. She also studied a semester in London, attending The Slade, a part of the University of London. While there she traveled to Scotland, Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice.

These trips strongly affected her approach towards art making, and she began creating abstract works and installations (transforming space through art). Ms. Ogilvie has been greatly influenced by the artwork of Nelson Stevens, Chuck Close, Frank Stella, and Sam Gillian.

Ms. Ogilvie currently combines two styles of art making; abstraction and portraiture. She refers to this intertwining of styles as a "filtered reality." She is based out of Philadelphia where she continues to create artwork celebrating diversity within the human race.