Kat Huddleston, Artist

Kathie “Kat” Huddleston is a self-taught award-winning Mixed Media and Fused Glass Artist who lives in Chicago. She grew up with a mother who loved art and embraced creativity of all kinds. From the time she was little there was always another project to work on, from painting a picture to a new kind of craft to writing and drawing a fairy tale book. Her mother introduced her to art shows and taught her to appreciate a variety of types of arts and crafts.

While always embracing her creativity, Kat eventually became an entertainment journalist for Syfy.com and Sci Fi Magazine, and she taught Photoshop, Illustrator and Web Development at the college level at Oakton Community College.

At one of the most challenging times of her life, Kat’s husband, Chuck, struggled with sever leg issues that led to nearly six months in the hospital and a leg amputation. During this unlikely time, Kat discovered glass as a medium and has never looked back. The transformational beauty of glass is unlike anything Kat has ever experienced and put joy back into her life at a time when she desperately needed it. Thankfully Kat’s husband has recovered, and her love for the possibility of what can be done with glass, and now painting with Mixed Media oil and Acrylic paints, has only grown.

While working in glass, oil and acrylic painting might seem to be very different disciplines, which they are, what connects Kat’s art is embracing untamed elements that don’t want to be constrained and figuring out how to make something organic and beautiful that goes beyond the abstract. Working with color and patterns, her paintings take on a life of their own as she finds herself drawn to human, animal, and nature forms.

While Kat is an emerging artist, she’s been accepted by over 50 juried art shows and won Best Jewelry at the Windycon Art Show and Best in Glass at Evanston’s Fountain Square Art Festival in 2016. She also won Best In Show in the 3D and Mixed Media category of the ALL Women competition in the Contemporary Art Gallery Online. In other contests she’s won Gallery Choice in the 3D and Mixed Media category of the ALL Abstract competition and Best In Show in the 3D and Mixed Media category for their ALL Colors competition in the Contemporary Art Gallery Online. She also won 8^th Place, Special Recognition and Honorable Mention for her work in Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery’s “Patterns” and “Nature” competitions last year.

As for as gallery shows, Kat’s art recently appeared at the new Three Seeds Gallery in Chicago, with one of her pieces being featured as the cover art for their brochure and online event page. Recent gallery showings include the Morpho Gallery’s Emerging Artists show in Chicago, the Bucktown Art Gallery’s “Buck Naked: A Celebration of Form, Function, and Beauty” show in Chicago, the ArtPie Gallery’s Spring Show in Waukegan, IL, and the Water Street Studios Winterfest Art Market in Batavia, IL.

Kat is represented by the Liz Long Gallery at the Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center in Chicago, the Jackson Junge Art Gallery in Chicago, the Promise You Art House in Highland, IN and the Gallery on 2nd in Kewanee, IL.

She works out of her home studio in Chicago and lives with her husband, Chuck, and her helpful cat, Jax.