(Artwork above: Muse 3 by Katrina Slade)

Katrina Slade (formerly Sentgeorge) is now living in Canada, her fourth country of residence since leaving Oregon after graduate school in 2011.

World-travelling OSU-Cascades alum Katrina Slade has made a decision that some might consider radical. She has left the stability of a teaching career to pursue her passion of being a professional artist. Slade and her husband, Ryan, who is a Canadian citizen, decided to move from their home in Germany to his native Canada because of the professional opportunities available to them both. She has previously lived in Germany, South Korea and Japan. Now pursuing permanent residency in Canada, Slade has many plans for her art career.

Online sales will be a primary focus for her. “Times are changing for artists. There are many successful artists today who earn most of their income from online commerce,” she says. Slade also plans to continue taking on painting commission projects, something she has been doing for several years, with collectors in Singapore, China, Germany and the States. When asked about her favorite type of project, she didn’t hesitate to say abstract painting. A graduate of OSU Cascades in 2010, Slade has a BFA degree in painting and drawing.

Slade’s most recent painting series, titled the Muse Series, was completed while on an artist residency in the South of France. The location of her residency, La Muse Artist and Writers Retreat in the mountains outside Carcassonne, is an inspiration to her, and influenced the title of the series. Slade has been on this residency two consecutive years in a row, with hopes of returning again. She has always been influenced by travel and the experience of being surrounded by other cultures. Her extended time living and traveling in Japan is the greatest influence of all. “I just love the refined beauty of the Japanese aesthetic. In art and design, but also in the small things, like gorgeous packaging in the grocery store or the unique artfulness of the manhole covers in the streets. It’s really a beautiful place,” she says about her admiration for Japan.

About the Artist
Katrina Slade has her Muse Series and many other paintings for view on her website, where you can also read her blog about being an international artist. Her most recent exhibition, Reflections, a group show, was held at Anna Klinkhammer Galerie in Dusseldorf, Germany. Slade was recently a guest blogger on Wanderella.co. She has been accepted into the Catapult business program for artists subsidized by the government of New Brunswick.

Katrina can be contacted by email at hello@katrinaslade.com. You can view and buy her work online at www.katrinaslade.com and on instagram @katrina.slade.art