Kathy Mork puts soul into her work
Like many artists, Kathy Mork creates just because. She has no visions of becoming the next big thing. She is content to explore and to pass her love of art on to others. Supplies and imagination are abundant, and peace is attainable.
“Art is good for the soul,” she said.
About five years ago, Mork experienced a bout of depression, and she began refinishing and painting furniture. “When I started painting, the depression went away.”
More recently, she began creating three-dimensional assemblages or collages. The whimsical pieces include polymer clay, metal, glass, paper, stamps and paint on canvas, wood or cupboard doors. Mork forms the clay, which hardens in the oven, into figurative shapes or pieces for layering. She rolls things like cantaloupes onto the clay for texture.
One of her first pieces has the words “soul” and “custody,” arms, legs, wings and a heart in the center. She puts the pieces together like a puzzle. “I never know what things mean or what they will be until I’m done,” she said, “A lot of my stuff is like serendipity.”
Mork grew up in Spokane Valley and attended West Valley schools. So did her parents, her husband, Millwood Mayor Dan Mork, and his parents. Family members live close to one another, many in homes built on property once owned by Dan Mork’s great-grandfather.
Dan Mork, who has begun to dabble in artistic welding, is impressed by his wife’s work. “I don’t know how she comes up with some of the things that she does. She’s so multitalented. Personally, my color wheel doesn’t go all the way around.”
Kathy Mork did pottery in high school, winning awards for her creations. With a mother who quilted and a father who worked with wood, she learned that making things was an important part of life. “You feel like you have to do it,” she said, “or something is missing.”
She found inspiration at area art shows and in magazines. “I get ideas everywhere, and I just go for it, gung ho,” she said, “If I don’t like it, I can always paint over it.”
Mork has worked at Hallett’s Market and Cafe, 14109 E. Sprague Ave., for seven years. She started bringing in her furniture to display, and the pieces began to sell. She has painted hope chests, cabinets, chairs and tables with designs including roosters to chili peppers. Her three-dimensional pieces are displayed on a wall in the cafe area and throughout the store.
“It’s been fun for us, and we feel lucky to have such fine art on our walls,” said owner Cindy Hallett. “No two pieces are the same, and every time you look at them, you see something different. I wish I had more space.”
Mork’s pieces are intriguing and filled with a multitude of meanings that represent moods and emotions. From her Millwood home overlooking the Spokane River, Mork will continue to make art. Perhaps to those who see or own her work, she is the next big thing.