Kathryn studied at the Kansas City Art Institute for three years and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the University of Kansas, Lawrence with a Phi Kappa Phi honor. She completed her (MFA) Master of Fine Arts in Art with Honors. (Lawrence, Kansas is where William Burroughs resided the last section of his life and Alan Ginsberg a frequent visitor. A bit of the “beat” poets and writers influence is seen in Kathryn’s work.)

Kathryn Arnold has shown her work on a national scale, from New York City to Hawaii, from Los Angeles to Chicago, Kansas City and St Louis, San Francisco and beyond. She has been written about by Alan Artner, art critic for the Chicago Tribune and Raphael Rubenstein, senior editor of Art in America along with many others. 

She exhibits nationally in museums, galleries, universities and art centers and is a NEA Regional Fellowship recipient. She has received other fellowships, grants and awards as well. Kathryn’s work is included in numerous public and private collections.

Kathryn works in her studio in the Bay Area.  Her work contains two intertwining veins. One is filled with large, colorful oils on canvas. The other vein includes drawings that are black and white mixed media works on paper. Both display the density and layered mark-making that points to artistic process and content.

"The paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for visual "magic". The sense of touch and chaotic energy of color and marks play an important role in building up layers that function to create and encompassing, enveloping field and bewildering space. The grid at times becomes a reference point and the intrinsic relating of parts form poetry; an interplay between subjective and objective realities." - Artist Statement