Using Art to Process Climate Anxiety and Loss with Katherine Steichen Rosing

Hey, friends. Welcome. And welcome back to noseyAF conversations about art, activism and social change.I am your host and friend, Stephanie, and today on noseyAF, I am talking with Katherine Steichen Rosen, a Madison based artist whose immersive installations and abstract paintings explore the deep connections between forests and watersheds. Katherine's work dives into the natural systems that sustains us, like carbon and water cycles.And honestly, it is such a pleasure to have her here because Katherine is one of those people I'll always make time to talk shop with about what's going on in our work. She's warm and generous and really just a fresh breath of air, which feels perfect since, you know, Katherine's all about water and trees.Anyway, we are going to start the theme music so that you can meet my friend, Katherine. Welcome to noseyAF.Gotta get up, get up tell the whole world you a winner, winner Vision of a star with a mission in the cause what you doing, how you doing, what you doing and who you are Flex yourself and press yourself Check yourself don't wreck yourself if you know me then you know that I be knowing what's up hey, Stephanie. Graham is Nosy as. All right. Katherine, welcome to no tf.

Hi. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. I'm so happy that you can be here because I feel anytime I walk through the forest preserve on my neighborhood walk, I think of you.

Oh, that makes me feel so good with your work.

You mentioned that you have, like, a deep relationship with northern ecosystems, and I'm curious what that means to you.

It kind of goes back and it's really multilayered.When I was a kid, we didn't have any money, and my big family, we would spend three weeks camping in the woods around Lake Superior, swimming, catching fish. And then my mom would cook them, my dad would clean them and stuff like that. And swimming, kayaking, canoeing.Or not kayaking, but canoeing back then. And that started the kind of groundwork for me, this love and comfort of being in the forests, in the water.That evolved as I grew up and I became an adult. I learned to backpack. So then I was out west, which is a very different landscape, very dry and arid in many places.And when you're backpacking, every resource is valuable. You carry your food, your tent, your. You know, and you try to minimize any excess.So you're often carrying water or looking for the next water source. And I remember backpacking in Canyonlands, that's out near Arches. And we had carried our water for the first day or day and a Half.And the second night, we thought that we would be passing some kind of a water source. And I remember we. We walked past this shallow, murky looking place and we're like, no, we don't want to drink that.So we passed it thinking, oh, there'll be something more. But there wasn't. And so my husband, who's, I think we were married at the time, went back a couple miles to get water from that.But we had filters and like, we probably boiled it, used iodine tablets. And then it came back and it's just like, I remember how that felt to be alone, like, there's nobody there.And then, like, being from Wisconsin, where we have so much water and it's pure and clean and plentiful, I never appreciated how valuable it was as a resource. And as I've gotten older, like, we took our kids camping.I spend as much time as I can, not enough hiking in the woods and in the forest because it's a way that I've learned about the cycles of life, life, death, that are difficult for as humans, at least really hard for me, especially death.But when I look in the forest, I see that the old decaying logs or the, you know, the trunks of the trees, they're fostering new life and nurturing new growth. They're decaying and becoming part of the soil. And it's just this beautiful life cycle. And so, like, I recently lost my mom.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you. I mean, she had a good, long life, but still, like, I'm miss her and it was easier. I told her I'm gonna. When she was still alive.I'm gonna think of you as one of the grandmother trees in the forest. And there was all the support and nurturing through the roots. So it's really. The forests have taught me a lot.

That's really sweet and really lovely, especially because it seems like she taught you this, like your family, right? Like, would go out camping and be a part of nature. And so, you know, it makes sense that you would reference her in that way. Do you still hike?

I do as much as possible. Yeah.

Okay.

I was just hiking in Acadia national park in Maine for the first time. Oh, wow. It was gorgeous. Yeah.

Yeah, beautiful. Did you go, like, by yourself or do you, like, go to these things with groups?

I went with my husband and my son. So most of our vacations, whenever we can help it, they're centered around hiking or kayaking or both, so.

Well, that sounds so lovely.

Yeah.

So, like. Okay, so let me try to describe for the listener. Some of your work, A particular body of your work.When I think of Katherine's work, I think of these beautiful yellowy green. Think of, like, fun leaves, but yellow, green, blue leaves that would. If you were walking through the forest, they would be, like, falling on you.Or if you were to look up, you might see them falling. And, yeah, they're sort of, like, mystical, while also being pretty realistic about the forest in a way. What do you think about that?

It's hard to say for sure, depending upon which painting you're talking about. But I do use a lot of oval shapes. So if you're thinking of that, like, the oval shapes originally come from.They're sort of symbolizing the water shield plant, which is a little. Kind of like a water lily, but it's more nondescript. They grow on little lakes.And that came from an artist's residency where I was focusing on the interconnection between forests and small bodies of water. And so I met with a scientist, and she was talking. She had researched these. And so I was, like, became fascinated by these floating oval leaves.And then I paired that with these vertical lines that are suggesting the tree trunks.

Yes.

Yeah, that's what I thought you were thinking of. And so they're. And then those ovals appear. Like, sometimes I have a horizon line or a suggestion of a horizon line.And so in the air, you see those ovals also. And I haven't really decided on a specific meaning for those.To me, it's a symbol, kind of the life that's in the air, whether it's leaves, birds, insects. And it's a visual way to have some continuity with the ovals that are in the lower part. That is, in my mind, the lake surface.

I see. Yes. Okay. So the piece that. For me to be specific, that came to mind, it's called the Space between Heaven and Earth.

I love that one. Yeah.

Yeah. And so that's why I was like. It reminds me of. If you walk through the forest preserve, the painting is very blue.And so at the local forest preserve, where I go, it might not be that blue, but the leaves can be that color.

Yeah. And I should say I absolutely love color. I love color and surface in painting. And I use color more expressively and kind of experimentally.So I don't necessarily follow anything that's real. Right.

So. Right, right.

The leaves can be orange or blue or blue, green, or whatever works in that composition.

Yeah. How did you choose painting as your medium? Cause I know sometimes you've jumped around to. You Know, installation and even some video work.But painting seems to be, like, the foundation for you.

Yeah, painting is my foundation, and installation is my second love.

Okay.

A newer love. Yeah. I've been a painter my whole life, and I began as a realist painter. Like, I think a lot of this, we love to look at the world.Like, I just remember always studying what things looked like. And I did very representational watercolors.They were landscape for the most part, although I did some portraits when I was in high school, but later it was more a landscape or abstract. And then through grad school, my work became pretty abstract, and I was always just. That's been sustained is the love of color and surface.So, like, texture and things like that. As the paintings grew larger, I kind of went back to a little bit of my roots.When I was in Chicago, I was a member of ARC Gallery, where we had five gallery spaces. It was a huge space in a warehouse. They're still around, but they are much, much smaller now. And we had one gallery dedicated to installation.It was like, I think, the first place in the country that did that.And I would go every month and look at installations from artists around the country and just be in awe of what they were doing with simple materials and just transforming the space. And I always wanted to do that, but it didn't feel right for my work.And then when my paintings got bigger, I wanted to, like, immerse people in the painting as I feel when I'm immersed in a forest, where. When I'm in a forest, everything is. My sensations are heightened.Color and texture are all very vivid for me, and so that colors come in through in the paintings. But I started to have this desire to actually, literally immerse people.And I was also growing more and more interested and aware of environmental issues and climate change and wanted to focus on those specifically in the installation.

That is so cool. I love installation work, too. I love seeing it.You know, I always thought, you know, yeah, you can like, make a room of, like, what you want people to see and experience and get as close to it as possible in your own interpretation. It doesn't have to be real, but, like, see it how you see it.

Yeah.My first installation was all white, sheer trees that I called spirit trees because I was thinking about the logging in the northern Wisconsin, like, you know, and when I hike, I'm always looking for the oldest, largest trees. And in the north here, it takes a really long time for them to grow. And so.And I know that from reading that the Europeans came in to the Great Lakes.And they just harvested all these massive pines that were there to build the sailing ships and all of that that would keep, you know, kept the trade and everything going to North America. And so I just imagine what would it have looked like before they got here? And can it ever look like that again? Like, I would wish.So that first installation with all white trees, I think of white as a sort of a funeral color, like the absence of life and the draining of color. And so I was able to kind of try to give this sort of ghostly feeling as people walk through those translucent trees.

Yeah. Uh, for the listener. Can you. Do you. Do you know the name of that installation? Do you remember the name of it?

Yeah, that was called Vigil.

Okay. Vigil. All right. Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah, I remember seeing. When you were posting about that one on Instagram.

Yeah.

And whatnot. You know, they say, I heard that, like, trees have feelings.

They do, kind of. Yeah. There's a researcher that I. I love to read about. Susan's Simond or Symard. I forget. I think it's Simon.She's out in the upper west coast and she's done a lot of studies about how trees interconnect. Like, they can actually communicate with each other through the root systems. It's pretty widely known now, but she's the one that discovers that.And so they send chemical systems and things. So if they feel some kind of a danger or a threat, they can send signals to other trees in the forest and they can actually send nutrients.So they can feed other trees. They can. They can even recognize their young, which is mind boggling to me. Whoa. So they can't. I know. It's like, isn't that cool? Like, they.They can recognize their babies and say, I'm going to give you a little bit more food.

Can they. When people go and hug trees, can trees feel that?

I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know if they can feel like that.

Maybe I just wonder when you were speaking about the whole, like, harvesting the trees for the ships, if they were like, oh my gosh, guys, this is terrible. Like, and if there was like a screaming amongst them, you know, and I know.

I wonder.

It's awful. That's awful. Did that happen?

Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. Well, you know, how could city folks get into trees and being a part of forest and, you know, I live.

In a city and I grew up in a city and the trees are everywhere and there's such a thing called an urban forest. So those trees are really important.So I think just when you go on a daily walk, or if you do or when just you're going running about, just pay attention to them. Each tree has sort of its own kind of bark. Their leaves, obviously are different. Notice if they're healthy or are they in decline.Are there branches bare of leaves? You know, things like that. I think just appreciate them. And if you have a tree on property that you can take care of.I remember I talked to a scientist, and she said, I wish people would take care of trees like they take care of their pets. Wow.

Yeah. But you know what?Now, this is going to be some tree prejudice, but the little tree that I have in front of my house, for some reason, I don't hold it in the same regard as, like, a forest tree, because maybe because it was brought in there or, you know, like, you see the city, you know, like, when I go visit my parents, you know, they're. Their local city was out planting trees, and it just seems like more decorative. But maybe I shouldn't think that way.

Yeah, I would think about, like, what they're doing is they're. When they get big, they're going to give you free air conditioning, and they're going to be beautiful.They are taking carbon out of the atmosphere, so they're cleaning up the air that you're breathing. So they're doing a lot of great thing. Like when. When I was a kid, the. We had.We lived in a pretty modest neighborhood, and the most beautiful thing was the trees. We had all these elm trees that were gorgeous, and, like, there was like a cathedral over the street.And then Dutch elm disease came through and wiped out all the trees, and they. So when I. I don't know how old I was, but they came through and they cut them all down.And so now there were no trees, and we didn't have air conditioning, so, like, it was hot and it wasn't as pretty, you know? So I think we should be grateful for those trees that we have. Okay.

Sri, I love you out here.

Very good.

Yes, I will. I'll hold. I'll treat. I'll treat all trees the same. Just like humans, right? Just like humans and our pets.

Yeah.

I will hold it into high regard.

There we go.

My gosh. Okay. Well, thank you for that lesson. Yeah. You know, back to your color.Back to your pretty color, you know, and, you know, you just sort of took me through, like, a little bit of ecological lesson, and I'm curious, you know, like, what does. What role does beauty play? In addressing, you know, complex ecological issues.Because your work is so important, because it is of the environment, about the environment, but it is also beautiful. And I know that art is. I guess my question is. Yeah, what role does that do you think about?

I don't think about creating beautiful paintings intentionally. I work with color and surface and composition until I get it to look the way I want. That it feels balanced and has interest.But I think that making something that's interesting for people to look at. Like, I'm hoping when people see the work in person, that they see all the lines and the marks and the textures that I take so long to create.

Yeah.

And that it makes the people curious. So I think. And in the installations, I'm hoping that by creating something that has some visual appeal that is enticing people to take a closer look.Maybe, like, if it's in an exhibition or on my website or Instagram or wherever, I usually write about some of the ideas in the work. And so that's a way of, like, I don't expect people to necessarily understand from looking at it what it's about.Cause it's about a lot of different things and different things to different people. But it's a way of using the visual to draw people into some deeper concepts.

When you go on your walks and take in this. Are you taking pictures? Do you paint from memory?

I do both. I take a lot of photographs. Like, if you back. It's been quite a while now, but I was working a lot with tree bark.And I would walk with my sister once a week. And I would stop and go. I would be gasping like, oh, my gosh, look at that. Look at that. And my sister's not an artist. And she's like, what?She's very efficient. Wants to keep on walk, walk, walk as fast. And I would. So I'd be photographing. And my husband, when we. We hike together a lot.And I walk faster than him. So I stop and take photographs when I, like, see certain compositions or, like, certain.I'm really interested in the generational relationships in forests. And that visually, that is like the wide vertical bands and the narrow bands. People sometimes comment.And it took me a while to realize I'm not painting ever branches. They're always the tree trunks. I would love. That's true. Like, it would be fun to paint all those wonderful, gnarly branches. I would love that.But what means so much to me is those trees as, like, bodies. The compositional and the rhythm, like music. The spaces between the vertical lines of the Tree trunks.And the other thing is, when I'm in the north, those are often pine trees, and they're denser forests.And so the lower branches are either chewed off by the deer or they're broken off because they're not getting enough sunlight from the dense canopy above. And so I just don't see branches. Like, I just see those vertical lines. And so, yeah, I do photograph.But then when I'm in my studio, sometimes I will look at the photographs to just kind of bring me back to the forest, maybe get a pattern of the vertical lines and the spacing. And then I pretty much put it away.

Yeah, you get like, a reference point and then just go, take off.

Just to start.

Yeah. You know, as the kids say. Then you start cooking. Yeah.

Then you start cook. Messing with the paint and getting dirty.

Yes. Oh, my gosh. Do you paint every day?

No, I can't. I wish I could. I try to, but there's, you know, all the other advent and applications and stuff you have to do.

Yeah. I just. I hate that.

I do, too.

It's like a necessary evil, obviously, because you have to. You know, you work so hard to make this work, and then you want to show it, but it's just, you know, sometimes I have to trick myself into.Especially this summer, as we're recording this, I've been really into popsicles. I mean, who doesn't? Who doesn't? Not like a popsicle, But I've always. I've, like, been rewarding myself with a popsicle.Like, after you finish this app. You got a popsicle?

There you go.

I just go to the freezer. But. Oh, they're so good. You, like, build any sort of, like, treat in for yourself as you finish, like, admin work. Hmm.

I get to read.

Ooh, that's good.

Yeah. Cause usually I'm working until pretty late.

Yeah.

And I find. I try to.I keep thinking, like, I get up, I eat my breakfast in front of the computer, as if I could magically get rid of all the stuff that has to get done by the time I get done with breakfast so I can go to my studio. But then that never happens. So I sit in front of the computer with my.My pajamas and my espresso and then my water bottle, and then it's like three hours later, and I haven't showered.

Yeah.

So that's kind of sometimes how the days go.But I paint often at night because if I haven't painted during the day and I have to get away from the computer so I can go to sleep later, then I can go. My studio's in my basement. So I go down and it's like, wow, I'm here.

Yeah. That's one of the things that's really nice about having a home studio.Cause I feel like even when I've had, you know, my work at the residency, I feel like there's always been, like, a certain time where I'm like, oh, it's getting pretty late. I better wrap up.

Right.

You know, and when you're at home, you don't have to say, you better wrap up.

No, I mean, at some point, yeah. But it's not like you have to get in the car or walk somewhere or you just go upstairs.

When you do paint, are you painting in. Do you work, like, in a series? Or do you do, like, one painting and say, okay, that's done, and then move to the next one? Or.How do you think about your work in that way?

I think about it in series because of the ideas and the themes and often the visuals. I don't finish always before I move on. It kind of depends on what the state of that painting is like. Some I struggle with so much, and I just can't.I don't know what to do. So I put it aside, start something else, and then I get a fresh look at it. So.But the imagery, like, my work is evolving right now, and I'm not quite sure. You never know where it's going to take you.

Yeah.

And I don't know if this is part of the previous series or if it's kind of its own new.

Yeah. What's that like to.

Move?

Like to keep working and not knowing where you're going?

It's scary. It's terrifying.It's like, I feel like sometimes I look and think I don't know what I'm doing, but the painting is telling me, this is what you need to do. And so I have to follow it. I figure easier to just.I don't know if it's easier, but I just move forward, and then I can always not show it, you know, and I'll move on to the next.

Yeah. See, even as soon as I asked you that question, I got, like, little, like, tingles in my stomach.I know, because I think with, like, filmmaking, you know, you know where it's going. You have your script and you know what the story is.So there isn't really going to be a place where, you know, if it's a story of a girl walking down the street, where. But now she's walking into an office. You know, it's like, no, we all know that this was the plan.I mean, I guess you could, but, you know, for the most part, there is a beginning, middle, end, versus with your work.

Let's say somebody was walking into that building, and then an eagle swooped, like, in front of her. Wouldn't she want to, like, find a way to get that, to work it into the story?

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's right. I'd be like, oh, my gosh. Okay.Yeah, now we have to figure out, one, how to get that little girl back, and then two, how to figure out how to make it work in the story. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, it's like. Yeah, it's just interesting. Like, just sort of working into an unknown, I guess.I feel like I. I'm trying to be more like that, but it doesn't seem to. I feel like a tension in my stomach, you know, from.

Well, I definitely feel that too, sometimes. Like, there's a painting. I think it's finished now. It's part of this new body of work that's emerging.And I started it with this sort of wanting to make this background kind of like the painting you referenced before. Was it between Heaven and Earth? A space between Heaven and Earth? Because I loved that painting.And it started to get more specific, and this cloud form emerged. Cause I'm working with these. I've been fascinated by atmospheric rivers for the last few years.And the ideas of their atmospheric rivers are these huge clouds. Usually they. They used to talk about them as forming over the Pacific Ocean.And if you look on the weather map, they're these long, serpentine, like, snaky, kind of winding, beautiful cloud patterns. And they. They drop massive amounts of rain in one spot, causing a lot of flooding, and then depriving other areas of water.And so then they're causing drought. And I. I became more and more interested in it because I've been interested in the water and the carbon cycle for a long time.I like systems and how those big systems and the little systems work.And here where I live, we had gone through about five years of drought, where the farmers in the outer areas around here were struggling with their crops. In my backyard, my trees were not looking very good. You know, the plants. I'm not going to waste water on grass. So the grass is all looking dead.And, you know, it was pretty rough. And then we had. After about four or five years, we had this massive downpour, like flooding, a little bit of flooding.And then trees are toppling I think. I don't know if this is true, but I imagine that over the drought, roots were shrinking and dying and then.And also the water could not be absorbed in the soil. So these trees were falling, there was power out. We were out with power, like, four days right before a solo show. That was not cool. Oh, my gosh.You know, kind of just made me really interested in what's happening with climate and how the precipitation patterns are changing. And so these atmospheric rivers, they can hold as much water or more as the Amazon river up in the sky.

Wow.

Like, that's amazing. Yeah, it's just hard to comprehend. Like, that's heavy water. Right. And so it's going to fall at some point. So my paintings, I'm starting to.About a year and a half ago, I started to have these sort of curvilinear, somewhat abstracted cloud like forms that were becoming part of the paintings. And so that's what I had started that in the painting I was mentioning. Before. Meaning?Well, I meant it to be much more soft, but it became more specific in this kind of spiral that's kind of moving through the painting. And it was making me so nervous, and I finally decided to leave it and give it what else it needed.And I think it's done now, and I think I'm okay with it, but. Okay, we'll see what happens next.

We'll see.

Yeah.

My gosh. So is Atmospheric river something that. Like a new body of work that you're also gonna be working on?

Yeah, it's finding in the paintings right now.I feel like I'm splitting my attention between the water shields and damselflies, which what I call the body of work that the space between heaven and Earth is part of, with all the ovals and the trees and sometimes a horiz and these new sort of what I think of as climate spirits. Like, I think about those atmospheric rivers and those cloud formations, kind of like climate spirits that are a little malicious and capricious.Like, maybe I'm going to give you water here, but I'm not going to give you guys water over there because you've been messing up the planet. So here you go.So that's happening in my paintings, but also I been incorporating ideas in the installations where I incorporate, like, flasks of water gathered from local sources that I've exhibited with those suspended trees that people know me for. But now I'm working on for the solo show at Ripon College that's coming up in a couple months.I'm working with Cyanotype which is a photo, you probably know it, photographic process.And I don't have much or like any experience with cyanotype and, and I'm working on a huge scale which was terrifying, exhausting but pretty exciting too. So I'm making like 36 inch wide by about 15ft long cyanotypes on a lightweight cotton, was it cheesecloth?And using a variety of images to create these sort of flowing like this fabric that I can then use in a flowing cloud like structure that will be a suspended in this exhibition.

My friend Krista just had had a bunch of friends over for like craft day and we were putting leaves on cyanotype paper.

Oh yeah, right.

Yeah. Is that sort of like the same kind of process that you're doing then?

Yeah, similar.

And like leaving it out in the sun and stuff.

Yeah.But you know, as, you know as you're a photographer, when you work with light sensitive material, the exposure time at around noon or 1 o' clock is 10 minutes. And so to try to arrange things on 15ft at 36 inches wide into.

It'S like ah, by yourself.

Well, I had help, I had help.I had like, yeah, I had help with it, but I had a kind of a plan and I had all this stuff laid along on the driveway and I started kind of putting things on and yeah, I had a system. Okay. It was tricky, man.

You know, speaking of systems, when you paint, do you work on like one painting at a time or do you work on like four at a time? I've seen like some artists have like in their studio, like one painting here, one painting there. How do you work?

I work, I focus on one at a time, but I often have several going at the same time. But it's more like the one I'm focused on is what I, I, I, I'm dedicated to. Cause the palettes are often different.Like I'm not good at keeping the same palette. I don't want, I get, I'm not interested in keeping the same palette constantly. And there's little mixtures.Like I have lots and lots of mixtures that I make. And so I need to keep those until I finish a paint. In case I like, I mess up one area, I've got to go back and kind of work into it again.So I've got some of the same color.

Yeah.Is it hard to, is it when you mix colors, is it just by experimentation or do you have like a color that you see in your mind of what you want something to be and then you just go after it.

I often have a color in mind, but color is very elusive.Like, I used to teach color theory and I know all the theory, but wow, you know, you mix it on the palette against the white background or whatever other colors are on the palette. And then I go to the painting and still I'm like, that's not what I wanted. That's not what it looked like over there.And so, you know, just keep fine tuning until it works.

You've completed some residencies, and I know artists, you know, love a good residency. Can you talk about how I know you, the residencies that you've done at Trout Lake and St. Croix watershed.Can you talk about how that's influenced your art and thinking and maybe why an artist might want to consider a residency?

I'm really happy to talk about those two residencies. They were my first residencies and they were science based and I was alone. So I'm the only artist there. And at St. Croix, I went there first.And I went there wanting to bring together two separate themes in my work that I've been working with for decades. And one is water and the water cycle that I've used in a lot of different ways, symbolically and abstractly. And the other is forest.And there's such a connection between the two. Very close. And I just wanted to think about how to bring them together in my work.And I wanted to learn more about them and also their connection to climate. So the people at the residency at St. Croix connected me with a professor at University of Minnesota who's a forester.So I talked to him and I talked to like some of the water scientists there. And I think the seeds were planted there for what I later did about. I think it was the next year at Trout Lake Research Station.So that was during COVID And so I had limited time with the scientists because we had to be outdoor, which was unfortunate, but we would go for walks. And that's where I mentioned earlier, the water Shield plant. That's where I met the scientists who had studied them and knew so much about them.And I had never paid attention. I didn't know. I probably looked at them and thought, oh, you know, there's some floating plants. And so now I became obsessed with them.Cause they also. It was fall when I was there. I was out kayaking and I was looking for them.And I came across some where the leaves were changing colors, like from this sort of wine, red wine color to still to some greens floating on the lake that's reflecting the sky.And then I'M thinking about the connections that, like, they're making, their roots are making with the soil at the bottom of the lake and then the shelter that they provide for the fish and things like that. So I learned a lot about that.And the little oval forms, like I said before, I became obsessed with those kind of like Larry Poon's painting, like these dot paintings where the colors sort of vibrate against the solid background. That's visually, was a big influence.So then I talked to another scientist, Gretchen Gerrish, who's the director of the station, and her research had been focused on the damselfly, which I really didn't know what it was.

Yeah. What is that?

It's. It's like a. It's like a cousin, a smaller cousin of the dragonfly. They're more delicate, body iridescent.Like, around here, there's a lot of little delicate, like, iridescent turquoise bodies. And then their wings are kind of transparent. And so she talked about how, like. Like I said, I like systems, and that includes.I'm curious about how do insects lay their eggs like, there. It's kind of based on water and, like, small, quiet lakes that I love to kayak on. So what is their life cycle? And so she.We're walking along, and there's this teeny little stream. And she said, well, let me see if I can find a larvae. And she like, what?So she just crouched down, picked up some, like, debris, like, that looked like some twigs and roots and stuff. And then out of that, she plucks this little squirming little thing and put it in her hand.And I'm looking at, like, that looks like a scorpion, like, but it, you know, it's tiny.

Yeah.

And so she put it in my hand. I'm like, okay, okay. And that was this arching kind of little thing.So I, you know, I learned from her that the dragonflies deposit their eggs into the water, they dip their tails in the water, and the eggs sink into the muck. And they can stay there for like a year or two.And then the larvae start to grow, and then they come out of the water, probably through little streams and at the edge and things, and then they turn into these beautiful.

Wow.

Damselflies. So, you know, it just inspired new imagery in my work and a deeper understanding of how nature works, because that's important for me.It also, those residencies gave me a lot of time to be by myself without outside distractions.I don't have to worry about anybody else's schedule and just to work and focus on my work and then hike a lot, kayak, take a lot of photographs and things like that.

So you're not afraid of bugs?

It depends on what they are. Like, oh, okay. I'm wasps and bees.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I'm a little squeamish, but I am fascinated. Like, I have a couple paintings that I incorporated mosquitoes, eggs and larvae in, and I looked up how did mosquitoes lay their eggs?And it was like, it was very cool. I do not like mosquitoes. I mean, like, I hate them.But what I've been learning is, like, every little part of the ecosystem for the ecosystem to thrive, because the fish need to eat the. Those mosquitoes and the larvae, and they. They eat the damselfly larvae. Like, it's the cycle, whether we like it or not.If they aren't there, you know, we're in trouble.

Yeah, that's true. You're giving me a little bit of appreciation for them because I don't like when I'm riding my bike and those big dragonflies are out.I cannot stand that.

Oh, wow.

They. They get in your face.

Oh, yeah. That wouldn't like.

And they like to. They like to. They, like, know what they're doing. They're like, oh, let me bother Stephanie on her bike.

She probably thinks she's sweet. Let's go see.

But the damselflies, I might not mind them as much because they don't seem to be as huge. I mean, they just make such an impact, those dragonflies.

Yeah, dragonflies are big and their bodies are big and thick. The damselflies, I've had them land on my kayak and, like, they're just so beautiful.

So what are you working on now? What are you up to now? You know?

Well, I'm getting ready for that show, and so I'm kind of nervously working on that installation that I was talking about with the cyanotypes. I have to do a couple more waiting for the temperatures to drop a little bit, so I have to make a few more of those.And then I'm working on how that's going to look in that space and then trying to get some more paintings finished for that show. Because I'm going to a residency. This will be very different than my other one. So I'm going to Pooch Cove in Newfoundland. So I'm super excited.That'll be in September. Yeah, there.

I went there. I went there.

Yeah, I know you did. Yeah. Yeah. And I listened to your podcast. You talked to. Actually, you did an interview with James, right?

Yes.

And then Gerry Rush. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm so excited to go there. And that'll be great because I'll be with six other artists, and so it'll be this.We'll be able to do studio visits and kind of check in with each other and just, like, be together. So that'll be cool.

That is. You're going to really, really enjoy it, I think.I think you're really going to enjoy it, and I love that you're going and, you know, you've done so much, so many different projects and stuff.I'm asking this question for a specific listener, but can you talk about a project if you're comfortable that might not have gone as planned and, like, you know, how. How they might have shaped your practice, you know, just because I. I don't know. The work is so pretty, you know, it's nice to know that.Not nice to know, like, ha, ha, look at what happened to you. But, you know, just like, no, we always see the finished product, you know.

Exactly. We see the finished product, and you have no idea of the struggles that went into it. Yeah.I have a specific project in mind that I'll talk about, but I wanted to start by saying, so many paintings I struggle with, and I don't know what they're gonna look like. And I have had paintings that I just think look absolutely horrible.I don't know what to do, but I've been persistent, and I stick with it until maybe I put it aside and come back. And sometimes those are the deepest and the strongest works. And so I think it takes you into surprising places.But I had a situation where I had applied for an insulation that was gonna incorporate these leaf drawings that I've made. I've made them before, but I wanted to make a new set for this show along with this central tree that would be suspended.And my proposal was accepted, but given the time that I learned that it was accepted and then when the show was gonna be that I couldn't make that work because I needed, like, real live leaves and that they were like. It just wasn't gonna work out. So then, like, oh, God, like, what am I gonna do for the. With the walls? And what. What else am I doing with that space?And that's when I think I had planned to do the video already. That's my first and, so far only video production of one wall. I thought, well, okay, I can't do the leaves. What else can I do that relates to trees?And I thought, well, I'll make these linen panels that will be in the same format, like, scroll drawings that are about, like, 40 inches wide by 10ft tall. So I started working with linen gauze and then India ink. India ink's to symbolize carbon because it is literally carbon made of birth particles.And so I made those, and they just didn't work flat. They just kind of hung there. So I thought, well, all right. And I. And I was like, what I.What I'm not saying is I was agonizing for months, like, what am I going to do? And trying things and experimenting with a lot of different materials and ideas.And I finally decided, I'll take these linen pieces and sew them into cylinders. And before I do that, I'm going to burn holes into them.So in addition to the carbon from the India ink, there's going to be holes, because these are. The whole show was about climate change and, you know, and, you know, talk about the effect of drought on trees.They're more susceptible to fire and just dying when they're dry. So I was burning holes in and sewed them together and then showed them as a group. And I was so excited about that.Like, it ended up being much more meaningful, more deep and. And surprising to me. And so now I feel like fire is part of my repertoire.

Yeah. I like it, like, when it flips, when it comes out unexpected, like.

Yeah. And I think that the answer to this or the lesson, I guess, is to not give up.Like, there's gonna be painful struggle that can make you feel so stupid or incompetent or whatever words we throw at ourselves. But it's like, you. Sometimes you just have to keep plugging away at it. Don't give up on the idea, but let it evolve and try.And at some point, like, I think I had the deadline, I had the show, so I had to make a commitment, so I had to stop playing. I had to make a decision and go with it. And I had played enough that it did work, but it was really a difficult time.

You know, Katherine, when you're working, do you have, like, anyone look at your work in progress and give you feedback, or are you just stepping back and making all the shots or making all the decisions about that on your own?

Oh, that's such a good question. I have a couple friends around that I do ask, and their opinions are really valuable.My husband, almost every day, like, when I'm working in my studio, especially painting, I make him come and look at it.

Is he an artist?

No, he's not. He's an engineer. He's a. But he's been around art with me for many decades. But I'll ask my sister who's not an artist.I'll ask anybody who's coming into the house. When I need feedback, I've learned is that they may identify something that bothers them or doesn't feel right.Doesn't mean that that's the part that needs changing. It doesn't mean anything needs changing. But it often gets me to look at it in a different way. Then I find my own solution. But I have to be careful.Cause sometimes I've had artists come over to and get feedback, and then I've sort of thought, oh, that sounds like a great idea. I'll do it. And then it doesn't work.And I think partly because maybe I was looking for an easy answer and I didn't think about it, or maybe it just wasn't. They look at work in a different way than what I'm. You know, we have to be our own final voice because we know what feels right.

Yeah. I think that that makes a lot of sense. Like about trusting your gut.

Yeah.

Does that just come with time, you think or experience?

It comes with time. It comes sometimes at certain days that it comes, you know, like, how well did you sleep? What were your interactions with the rest of the world like?Are you in kind of feeling vulnerable that day? There's a lot of. I mean, I think being an artist is so hard.

I agree.

You know, people think, like, if I introduce myself and they say, what do you do? And I say, I'm an artist. Like, how nice. And, you know, and all of us artists are like, well, it is, but.

Right. Yeah.

You don't see the agony behind the image.

Right. Yeah. I was thinking, as I had asked you, that I'm like, yeah, I do think that also, it feels like you have to be extreme experimental too. Right.Because when you do trust that, when you do trust yourself and you put it out there and you might get, like a reverse response, you know, you still have to think like, okay, well, am I okay with what they just said? Or like, okay, well, let me try again. Like, you. You still have to. You still continue to ask yourself these questions.

Right.

And you just have to make yet another decision and just keep going.

Right? Yeah, exactly. And I think you used the word decision, and that's something I think people don't think about with art.I think they sort of think it's like, go with your. Whatever it feels like. Right. But it's a constant sequence of decisions. What color Is it gonna be. How big is it gonna be? Do I.Does it need another layer? Does it need whatever, more contrast? Does it need another something over there? Does it, like, you know, whatever you're making, it's.There's a lot of decision making, and sometimes it's intuitive and you just kind of go with. I mean, at least for me, sometimes I'm just. I just go with it. But then as I'm finalizing, it's. There's. It's. There's a lot of decisions.Even what materials I do, I work with. Right.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah.And I feel like, even, like, on top of being an artist, being a human, because after you make all those decisions, then you might have to make a decision about, like, what's for dinner. Yeah.

No, exactly.

I mean, seriously, it's like, now you have to, like, maybe run to the grocery store, Right. Run up to Walgreens and, like, pick up something. It's like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah. That decision on dinner is the one that's.Because I'm the cook in our house and my husband's the dishwasher, which is great, but I'm like, every day, like, four o', clock, do I have food in the house? What am I going to do with it? And how long is it going to take? And can I keep painting for another hour?

Right, right. Oh, my gosh. I feel like you might have to have your husband on another time. For, like. For, like, if my spouse is an artist, this is what to do.Oh, my gosh.

I don't know. I think he's still learning. He's been. He's a great help, though.

Yeah. Is there a specific natural phenomenon that you've been obsessing over recently?You've told us, like, about the damselflies, like, the different floating plants, like the atmospheric rivers. Anything new that, like, has come to your attention?

Well, I would say it's the atmospheric rivers.

Okay.

A pretty new obsession. Yeah. It's like. And that along with drought, and I call it drought and deluge.But, like, really mean, like, drought and flooding and the interconnection with trees and forests and water and just, you know, what's happening in our world. Yeah.

What? Do you have any thoughts for just, like, how we're treating the world, like, in our everyday, like, things that we could be doing better.

I'm a fan of nature. I don't use the word activist.

Yeah.

But maybe a spokesperson maybe would be better. I'd be more comfortable with that.

Ambassador.

Yeah, Ambassador. I love that. I Feel like an activist.I really respect that they're out maybe cleaning things up, going and sending leaflets or making phone calls or, you know, planting trees. I mean, I plant trees in my yard, but it's now. But it's more of an ambassador. I think we need to think about how much waste we have. And I'm guilty.Like, everyone is. Every time I buy something, I'm like, oh, do I really need that? But trying to reuse.Like, I do my best to avoid buying water bottles or even to, like, if I go to an event. I try not drink water. I mean, sometimes I do. But I hate, like, the disposaling everything. Like, water bottles, coffee cups.Like, we can all make our own coffee or tea at home in a reusable. Like, they make stainless steel things that'll last pretty much forever or almost, you know, and stuff like that. So choosing.Like, I was somewhere tasting vinegar, and they had this little plastic spoon, and she was gonna give me two different ones to taste. I'm like, could just use the same spoon. And then I asked, like, can you recycle that? Oh, no, we can't.So, like, they're a business where they're throwing away probably thousands of things a day or hundreds a day. You know, like, we just have to think about, like, do I need to make that car trip? Could I. Like, I try to route my route in an efficient way.So I think we just have to. And I think the thing that I'm passionate about, the idea that every single individual can make a difference.I think Greta Thunberg says the same thing, believes the same thing. People sometimes will say, oh, we have to wait. The corporations and the government has to do it.Well, our government is not going to do it right now, and it's urgent. And so if we all make different buying decisions and act differently, all those actions add up.And then if we change buying habits, then the companies will follow us because they want to make money. Right? So aware of what you're using and how you're using it.

And there she is, folks. Katherine Mother Earth. Lovin Steichen Rosen.You know, one thing that really stuck with me from this conversation is how Katherine said, we have to be our own final voice. Like, how true is that?I am going to lean into that more because I feel like even sometimes when I'm questioning some type of decision, whether it be creative or not, I start thinking, oh, should I get feedback? But then I stop and ask myself, like, is that even really necessary? Do I really need the feedback? Because honestly, not all the time.Do I need someone to co sign me? You know, I'm about to co sign myself. You know, co sign yourself.Anyway, when we talked, Katherine was on her way to Canada for her residency at Pooch Cove. But she's back now and has a few shows coming up.So I'm going to tell you about two of them, but make sure you head to her website and join her newsletter so you don't miss anything. So the first one I'm gonna tell you about is a solo exhibition.I don't know if we have a title for it yet, but it's gonna be at the K. Stecker Gallery, which is in Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. And that is October 17th. And she's even gonna have a artist talk October 17th.So mark your calendar and make sure you head there and then this show is a little bit further out.But I'm gonna tell you anyway while I have your ear as that, Katherine has a solo Exhib Kim Storage Gallery, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and that is opening up April 17th of 2026. And that'll be on view from April 17th through May 23rd with an artist talk on April 18th. Okay.This is all things Katherine Steichen Rosing episode and I really hope you enjoyed it. That's it for today's episode of Nosiaga. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening.And until next time, you know, stay nosy, stay curious, and keep making the work you only can make. And I will talk to you later. Bye. This has been another episode of noseyAF. I'm your host, Stephanie Graham.What did you think about today's conversation? I would love to hear your thoughts. Head over to the noseyAF website for all the show notes related to this episode.You can also find me on Instagram, Instagram at Stephanie Graham, what would you know? Or online@missgraham.com where you can sign up for my newsletter where I share exclusive updates about my studio practice as well as this podcast.Until next time, y' all stay curious and take care. Bye.