Artist Bio
Katie Aronat of Arrowknot Studio (born 1991, Bakersfield, California, USA) is a Chattanooga, Tennessee based abstract artist, primarily creating cut-out style artworks.
With a degree from UCLA in Design | Media Arts, Katie spent 5 years doing graphic design and motion graphics before pivoting to Project Management. To stay creative, she worked on passion projects over the years, most involving a die cutting machine. After discovering her artist hero, Sophie Tea, in London, she was inspired to make her own art.
In 2022, she picked up a paint brush for the first time, creating abstract paintings that played with color. Her design background and experience with the cutting machine eventually converged into her first cut-out artwork experiment in January 2023. This was only the beginning as Aronat enthusiastically continued down this path exploring how overlapping material silhouettes create dimension.
Artist Statement
Matisse described his cut-outs as drawing with scissors… I don’t use scissors, but I do take a more modern approach to creating abstract compositions using cut out materials.
My cut-outs begin in a digital playground of freestyle forms and color. As abstract components emerge on screen, a search for balance and hierarchy drives an iterative process.
Digital ideas are made real with the mechanical execution of cutting, coloring and gluing. Typically featuring overlapping silhouettes, my work aims to acknowledge and highlight those interesting spaces created in between with vibrant palettes and material dimension.
CV
Education
UCLA
Design | Media Arts
2010-2014
Exhibitions
Artfields - April - May 2024, Lakeside, SC
Clearstory Arts - Green Show - April 2024, Chattanooga TN
March Women’s Show - Wanderlinger Brewing Company - March 2024, Chattanooga, TN
AVA Annual Member Salon Show - October 2023 - Chattanooga, TN
Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts - Creative Arts Guild - September 2023, Dalton, GA
AVA’s Annual Juried Member Exhibition - July - September 2023, Chattanooga, TN
Clearstory Arts Two Year Anniversary Show - August 2023, Chattanooga, TN
The Space Between - CHA Art Space (Chattanooga Airport) - July - October 2023, Chattanooga, TN
AVA @ the INCubator Cohort Exhibit - April - June 2023, Chattanooga, TN
March Women’s Show - Wanderlinger Brewing Company - March 2023, Chattanooga, TN
Markets
Four Bridges Art Festival - April 2024
Clearstory Arts Cold Turkey Art Market - November 2023
Between the Bridges Festival - October 2023
Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts - September 2023
The Chattery Night Market - September 2023
Clearstory Arts First Friday - January 2023
The Chattery Winter Market - December 2022
Common House Maker’s Market - December 2022
Clearstory Arts First Friday - December 2022
Speaking Engagements
Pechakucha - June 2023, Chattanooga, TN
Collections
Private Collections in Dalton, GA
Private Collections in Columbia, SC
Private Collections in Chattanooga, TN
Private Collections in Tyler, TX
Private Collections in London, UK
Private Collections in San Francisco, CA
Residencies, Internships and Professional Programming
AVA @ the INCubator Cohort - April - June 2023, Chattanooga, TN