Katie Loesel’s current work uses abstraction and color to explore ideas of geological history, microscopic surfaces, and rocky formations. Her interest in human influence on climate change and plastic as a distinct marker of our current era plays into the shapes and forms. Plastiglomerate is a new type of rock formation that has been proposed as a geological marker of our current epoch, the Anthropocene, created from a mixture of natural and sedimentary elements fused by plastic from the ocean. The horror and intrigue from this distinctly human interference inspires the shape, form, and color that meld together through layers in the artwork. The appearance of these objects in the work are strangely playful, yet expose our flaws as creators of this plastic virus that is becoming layered into our history. The subjects in the artwork develop and grow in complexity throughout the process of making and layering and range from simple, overlapping shapes, to complicated structures.

 

Katie Loesel grew up on Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from The Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She is a snowboarder, sailor, crafter, gardener, environmentalist, cyclist, and lover of local food and drink. After living in Thailand and Boston, Katie moved to Vermont to focus on her art. She tends to make prints, drawings, installations, and sometimes books. She has participated in artist residency programs at Vermont Studio Center and Zea Mays Print Studio. Her work has been exhibited nationally, with frequent shows throughout Vermont. Katie is the recipient of a 2016 Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant. Katie teaches printmaking at Burlington City Arts and Champlain College.