Kathryn Lynch finds balm in beauty

Islanders who encounter Kathryn Lynch’s art will instantly relate to one of her most prevalent motifs: boats.

“I’m obsessed with boats,” she said recently adding that she uses a limited number of shapes -— a lot of boats and cars — as well as a limited palette, using shapes and light to create a mood. Discussing her “obsession” with boats, she said, “I need to see the edge of land, to feel free and expansive when I have an infinity view.” Clearly, Shelter Island is an ideal place to encounter such horizons.

Based in Brooklyn, her routine did not change much as the COVID pandemic set in, since she would commute between her home in Carroll Gardens and her studio in Bushwick. But she did find that her art reflected the times we were living through. “When cases began to spike,” she said, “I was painting a lot of ambulances, in sort of psychedelic styles.”

Although she was accustomed to working alone, she said she was “sad not to see my friends.”

Overall, though, she sees art as a balm for painful feelings. “It affected my imagery but not my work,” she said. “If I’m having a bad day, it just melts away.”

Ms. Lynch rents a home on Shelter Island in the summer, and has favorite spots she likes to walk, like one near Hay Beach. Although it gives her some distance from her work, she finds painting is always on her mind. “When my son was little, he looked at me when we were taking a walk and said, ‘Mom, get out of the studio in your head.’”

Her son, Graham, attends the University of St. Andrew in Scotland, where he works on the school newspaper. (In summer 2019, he was an intern at the Reporter.) Daughter Elizabeth is studying at Bennington College in Vermont. While Elizabeth has a creative temperament, she said Graham is focused on a career with the security of a paycheck “after having two self-employed parents.” Her husband, Peter Moore, is an entrepreneur.

Besides the Island, she enjoys visiting the beach at Sagaponack with her family. “I’ve never seen better light anywhere,” she said. Her artist’s eye distinguishes between the light she finds on Long Island — “a golden twinkle” — and the famous light in Maine, which she describes as “a crisp blue light.”

She not only appreciates the Island scenery and landscape for inspiration, she loves the “very warm sense of community on Shelter Island.” She has a favorite quote: “Your life, not your house, is your home.”

In April, she will have a show opening in East Hampton’s Drawing Room. An interactive show is being curated by Varia Serova at Zephyr and Maize (zephyrandmaize.com/). She is also showing currently at Turn Gallery and Sears-Peyton Gallery, both in Manhattan.

In describing her work, Turn Gallery states “Lynch hovers between realism and abstraction. A tug of war between light and space, she captures scenes of fleeting moments that are pressed through the reassuring materiality of paint. From the shores of Eastern Long Island, to Manhattan and Brooklyn cityscapes, Lynch renders scenes that are a metaphor and balm for the passing of time. Tapping into the unconscious, she looks to reveal the solitary traveler in each of us.”

For more information on the artist, visit her website at kathrynlynch.com.

This is the first in a series, “Artist in Residence,” profiles of Island artists accompanied by photographs of the artists, as well as their works. Kathryn Lynch was photographed in her studio by Lorin Klaris (lorinklarisphotography.com), a Shelter Island photographer who will focus on local art and artists for the series.