Kathryn Polk

Kathryn Polk (b.1952 Memphis, Tennessee) studied painting at the Memphis Academy of Art and Memphis State University. Polk’s Southern heritage and strict religious upbringing have been a major influence on the content of her work. 

"Growing up in the American South during the 1950s and 60s, expectations for women to achieve a position other than domestic caregiver was highly unusual and often frowned upon. These memories have had a residual effect on my art from the beginning. 

I work mainly in stone lithography because of all the printmaking media, it is the one that best accommodates my love for drawing. My lithographs are a collection of personal narratives referencing the past to the present. 

I consider myself a visual storyteller.  I present the lives and perspectives of the women of my family (grandmothers, mother, sister, daughter, granddaughters, and self) in the context of the current state of the world. To do this, I have developed a personal iconography and visual lexicon." 

Artwork from Motley Multiples is now available to collect below. Read the press release here.