Conversations | Kate Roebuck

Kate is an artist living in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Describe your work as if you're speaking to a 5 year old.

LOL. I’m now pretending I am talking to my real life 5 year old, Rafe. “I have signed up to do too many things this year, and now Mommy has too much to do! But that's ok, because I love getting to do what I do every single day, even when they are not the best days. I have a big commission to make a painting about sports, which is kind of unusual, but also kind of fun. And it’s going to be as big as an entire wall in someone’s house!”

Your preferred method of getting that good creative vibe going.

Forcing myself to turn off The Housewives and put on some good music. I also try to leave my studio each day in a state that supports getting right into it when I return. Fresh sheet of paper on the desk or paint ready to go on my next canvas.

One living artist or designer you want to have cocktails with.

Visual artist: Rae Klein or Alex Kanevsky

Musician: Billie Eilish

Writer: Pádraig Ó Tuama

Actor: Stanley Tucci (I’m obsessed with him.)

What drives you absolutely nuts about the (art) world?

This one is so easy for me. I can not stand when someone calls a painting a “picture.”

A time you surprised yourself by the art you created.

I was working on a mural for a client who ended up requesting a landscape. At the time I thought “do they even know what I do?!” I had never done a landscape and insecurity told me I couldn’t. However, it ended up being the best ask, because even though the client decided to go another direction with me, I actually really love painting landscapes now.

Most recent song you've been listening to on repeat.

Current obsession is with Everything is Peaceful Love by Bon Iver

Podcast or show your are recommending that others may not have heard of or seen.

There is this little Netflix documentary called The Quilters about men in jail who find the catharsis of quilting. It’s so beautiful to watch how their lives change with the gift of skill, craft, and generosity.

A quote that your brain won't shake.

There is a song I listened to on repeat during a particularly hard time in life by the National — Not In Kansas.  It’s worth a listen - the musicality of the song is really beautiful. It's this meandering story of losing faith in humanity (kinda dark) but then the song shifts and these choral voices come in an it's full of hope and beauty.  There’s a lyric that meant a lot to me, “The flowers cover over everything, they cover over everything, the flowers cover over everything”. This lyric became for me a visual of hope, of flowers growing out of the deepest pain — it even inspired my first tattoos.

Last book you read that you couldn't put down.

I like to read a lot, it’s my favorite hobby. I usually alternate between literary fiction and fantasy/ faeries/smutty romance. I loved Elena Ferrante, The Lying Life of Adults and Twist by Colum McCann. But I also love the series A Court of Thorns and Roses and I'm currently working my way through the Throne of Glass novels ;).

Do you take in a song's lyrics or melody first?

I listen to a lot of classical/modern instrumental music in my studio and while I am reading. — “Sad Classical” is my favorite on Spotify. I also really love to bop around and sing in my studio while I am working so I would say both are equality exciting to me.

Advice, compliment, insult...something that you will never forget.

My very wise friend Mia (Bergeron) once shared that we should never operate from a place of fear and I keep it on a sticky note in my studio.

If someone asks you to cook your "specialty" - what are you cooking?

Pasta! My nana's homemade gnocchi, my Sunday sauce, or my pomodoro ;)

What was the most memorable field trip you can remember going on?

We used to go to the Frick in Pittsburgh and I used to love it when we got to make our own candles like they did in the “olden days.” The repetition of dipping the wick into wax was soothing and there was something so fascinating about thinking through a slower pace of daily life that I loved, even as a child.

A piece of art in your home that you LOVE.

I feel pretty lucky because several of my friends happen to be very talented artists so I have a pretty great collection of work by Addie Chapin, Mia Bergeron, John McLeod, and Laura Roebuck. I have an assemblage of eye paintings Mia did of my family that I treasure.

Huge shout out to ______ for ______!

My husband, Coco,  for being the funniest and weirdest person I know. I always need the reminder to not take things too seriously.

Check out more of Kate's work here.