Art By Katharine Ligon

About

Whatever it is, tell your story…I tell mine through art. We each have our own experiences that shape our story. That story is powerful, meaningful, and, importantly, worth sharing with the rest of us! 

Katharine’s work is primarily contemporary abstract, using acrylic paints and various mediums on canvas and wood panels. Katharine’s art is a physical representation of her voice.

Katharine is a native Houstonian and has lived there for most of her life. Beginning in high school, Katharine created doodle drawings for family and friends, which continued to her various workplaces, where she would surprise co-workers with small doodles on notes on their desks.  The doodling progressed to dabbling in painting as a way to relax while working in social services and even more so while working in the Texas Legislature.

In the middle of completing her undergraduate studies, Katharine's path to community service began when she volunteered for 18 months at Nuestras Pequenas Rosas in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a historically locked country into a cycle of poverty. She later continued her studies and obtained a Master of Social Work. Katharine has served communities through the child welfare system as well as advocacy and legislative strategy. She worked with children in foster care for five years. She then transitioned to working around the Texas Capitol for nine years as a staffer and advocate, working on public policy issues related to physical and mental health, substance abuse, and criminal justice. Additionally, she worked for a few years in community development, specifically coordinating Red Cross funds to assist Houstonians to rebuild their homes destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. She has done this all to promote and protect the well-being of oppressed and vulnerable people.

While analyzing systemic barriers to community mental health services and creating legislative opportunities to expand access to these services (left brain activity), Katharine began painting in her living room to tap into her expressive and creative side (right brain activity) to enable her brain to explore unconventional policy and legislative solutions. The more she painted, the more she began to recognize her passion to share her paintings with the world.  

On the brink of the COVID global pandemic in 2020, Katharine jumped feet first into building an art career…her hands have been covered in paint ever since. Katharine has participated in several curated exhibits in the Houston area, such as the “10x10 Art Show” and “Mashed Art Show” at Hardy and Nance Studios. Her work has been displayed throughout the greater Houston area, such as The Houston Club, Paint the District Pink in the River Oaks District, Serendipity Labs, and Sesh Coworking.

Katharine was voted Houston’s Gayest & Greatest Female Artist by OutSmart magazine in 2021 and 2022.