Biography

Kathy Bradshaw is an encaustic and oil painter based in Saskatoon, working across landscape and animal portraiture guided by sensitive observation, a strong foundation in drawing, and an emotional response to her subject. Her landscapes focus on the power of open space, generally free of human presence, so viewers can sit with the solitude of the northern landscape on its own terms. Her animal portraits take the opposite approach, close-up and eye-to-eye, drawn to the emotional and symbolic weight carried in an animal's gaze and gesture. Much of her work is shaped by hours spent outdoors, hiking, paddling, skiing, and simply observing, before returning to her home studio to translate that experience into paint.

Bradshaw began as a high school phys. ed. teacher before completing her first painting at 40 and earning a BFA with great distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in 2005, later shifting her primary focus to encaustic in 2016. She has since exhibited across Canada, the US, France, and Ireland, received several awards, and was named a Saskatchewan Artist to Watch, with her work represented by galleries in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan and held in collections worldwide.