Kathi Baron

 I painted these two butterflies soon after visiting Michoacán, Mexico’s World Heritage Site’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere. At 9000 feet, the tiny orange gems were already darting around us. At 11000 feet millions of them weighed down the pine branches and filled the sky. This superhero fourth generation completed the thousands of miles from Canada to the mountains of Mexico to mate before flying north again to lay their eggs on milkweed. Through the efforts of the Mexican government, they are slowly recovering after severe losses to climate change and logging. Can we ensure future generations will be able to witness this delicate miracle?  

An artist’s response to the climate change crisis calls for walls full of Banksy graffiti, calling attention in a satiric way to where our global atmosphere is headed.  My painting takes a gentler path, focusing on a child’s wonder and innocent connection to the natural world.  Michael Jackson used lyrics to challenge us: “If you care enough for the living (…) Heal the world we live in/Save it for the children.”  Greta Thunberg, barely out of childhood herself, chooses angry words to scold adults for their failed task to halt the current and future climate disaster: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

My desire is for my audience to consider this question:  What do we owe this child and future generations?  What steps are we willing to take to heal the world for them?

Kathi Baron Bio

For over 75 years I have been surrounded by the myriad beauties of this world: the curl of water over river stone, the drip of water off an oar, the sparkle of beach sand, mountain snow against azure skies, the twist of blossom edge, and most of all, the pure hearts of the teenagers I teach.  If I could only be granted 75 more years to paint what I have known!  Each of my paintings humbly approximates but celebrates the ineffable in the familiar.

My work consists predominately of water media florals, figures, portraits, animals and birds.

 I have participated in Flagstaff Open Studios and several local gallery showings for the past fifteen years.  I am a Signature member of Northern Arizona Watercolor Society and have won five awards at NAWS’ annual exhibitions.

 kathi_baron@msn.com

View my work at The Artists’ Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ.