KATE RIVERS is a mixed-media artist based in the Hudson Valley, New York. Originally from Ohio, she earned her BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design, and her MFA in painting and printmaking from the University of South Carolina. Rivers taught at the collegiate level in Oklahoma before transitioning to a full-time studio practice in Santa Fe, then relocating to New York. Rivers works between three series: her Book and Nest series, which reflect themes of memory, place, and passing time through their use of collected ephemera; and her more recent Observing Strangers in Public series, which stems from an interest in Hopper, and watching the people around her. Narrative and texture serve as connective tissue between her full body of work. ARTIST STATEMENT My work is about memory; we save mementos of events in an attempt to document something deep and personal with a tangible thing that serves as a reminder, lest we forget. When my mother passed, I discovered all of her walls had turned into wall-scapes, covered with ephemera. She had attached cards, news items, photos, and more. What I saw transformed my art practice. I've been experimenting with this medium for several years, creating abstract impressions created from books and ephemera. I work with color, texture, and movement with an emphasis on narrative, with a result of image/word poems.