Katharine Bruce

Katharine Bruce was born in New York, NY at the time her father, Canadian artist Robert Bruce was studying at the Arts Students League in Manhattan. Her early exposure to the art world led to a strong childhood interest in the visual arts which she perused at the University of Manitoba earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1974.

She worked as a potter in Seattle, WA and in 1976 became an art instructor / activities director at the Tenacre Foundation in Princeton, NJ. In the mid-80’s she studied painting, drawing and sculpture at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. Returning to Princeton in 1987 she became immersed in the Art of Handmade Papermaking, teaching workshops and also producing a 90 minute video on the subject. During this time her art was extensively shown in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.

Her move back to Winnipeg in 1996 initiated several solo and group exhibitions of her paintings and drawings including showings at The Winnipeg City Hall, The Centennial Concert Hall, Main Access Gallery, Warehouse artworks and Gurevich fine art.

She became an active member of the progressive co-op <SITE> Gallery in the historic Winnipeg Exchange district. Her new works are available at The Winnipeg Art Gallery and SOUL Gallery (​www.soulgallery.ca​) Winnipeg.

Her paintings are featured on book covers, album covers, show homes, Manitoba government and corporate buildings throughout the province.. Her mural ‘Princess Street Reflective’ , a 4’ x 11’ drawing/mixed media was purchased by the City of Winnipeg in 2001 and hangs in the lobby of the Winnipeg City Hall.

Moving between the wide open prairies of Manitoba and the high deserts of Mexico Katharine’s art reveals a new stage of fresh self-discovery. She is engaged in a quest , a search whereby her painting is a creative offshoot of her impassioned desire to comprehend the nature of her existence.

Bruce’s dramatic perspectives and dreamlike architecture reflect such varied subjects from New York’s cabs and canyons to Winnipeg’s Exchange district architecture and Manitoba’s broad vistas. Her deep love for both environments is revealed in realistic and abstract images.

Her love of roosters and chickens (gallos y gallinas) began back in the 1980’s while visiting a friend’s chicken farm in Massachusetts.

She has been exploring their delightful shapes and gestures ever since. Having moved to the country, to an old farmhouse in Holmfield, Manitoba in 2012 she found the perfect time to focus on this subject. That very same year, she established a winter residence in Mexico where she encountered gallos on the roof next door. This is the first time she has shown all of these works together.