B. 1991 in Southfield, Michigan; raised in Avon, Indiana; currently lives in Long Island City, NYA painter for our time, naturalist, Katie G. Whipple believes that she has found a key to unlock the hope and beauty she feels in a world so often clouded by hardships and ugliness. Trained as a classical figure painter, Whipple spent her youth dreaming of one day becoming a portraitist; and yet, inspiration has led her, for the time being, away from the human form to the celebration of lesser subject matter — fruit and flower. In what she describes as ‘painting prayers’ Whipple’s beautiful imagery of nature’s flowering bounty is, for the artist, an ode to the mysteries of joy and delight found in nature. However, it is her keen ability to demonstrate these feelings realistically in delicate, warm vignettes of line, shape, color and tone that whisper to the spectator of the often poetic moments exchanged between artist and subject.Whipple credits her mother, Libby Whipple, an oil painter and art enthusiast as being a central figure in shaping her love for drawing, painting and art appreciation. Mrs. Whipple also shared with her daughter an aesthetic for beauty — marked by discipline, skill and uplifting imagery. Whipple realized at a young age that she could create a likeness of a person or an object with ease. By the time she was 13 she was drawing faces from magazines and life while taking private drawing lessons. After graduating high school Whipple moved to New York City to study classical painting at the prestigious academy of art, the Grand Central Atelier under the direction of Jacob Collins, Travis Schlaht, and Edward Minoff.Katie G. Whipple is the recipient of several awards, including scholarships from the Grand Central Atelier, the Art Renewal Center, and a purchase price award from the Indiana State Museum. In 2013 she received the Alma Schapiro Prize from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The Alma Schapiro Prize allowed Whipple to study abroad at the American Academy in Rome for three months. Mesmerized by the rich art and thriving culture of Italy, Whipple extended her stay and traveled throughout Rome, Florence, and Naples. In the course of her excursion, Whipple studied the idealized and harmonious works of the ancients, for example, the image of the nude Venus’ and the Farnese Hercules; as well as the design and anatomy of the classically-inspired Italian Renaissance masters, such as Michelangelo Buonarroti’s sculptures the David (1504) and Rebellious Slave (1513) It was during this inspirational trip that Whipple also fell in love with Roman wall paintings, in particular, The Painted Garden, Villa Livia — all of which influence her work today.