Artist Bio

Kat Furtado (she/her) is a contemporary mixed-media artist from San Diego, California. She weaves storytelling and intersectional feminism into her abstract art. Her work has been featured in multiple printed and/or online juried exhibitions and publications including through Women United Art Movement, Arts to Hearts Project, and ArtMums United. Her first solo show, “Strata: Anatomy of Visual Storytelling” premiered through the Women United Art Movement in Fall, 2022. In May 2023, she was a guest on the ArtSisters Podcast for the episode entitled, “Positive Impact with Kat Furtado”.  Her work was showcased in “Vogue’s Gallery” in the April, May, and June 2023 print editions of British VOGUE Magazine. Furtado has also completed artist residencies through the Artist Mother Podcast and Thrive Together Network. She is currently working on multiple bodies of work addressing the societal constructs of identity.  

Artist Statement

Kat Furtado’s artistic process exposes blurred lines between identity and social constructs, perceptions of women’s work and art, and the female experience. She creates artworks including soft sculpture that reference anatomy and autonomy. “Mistakes” are embraced and intentional. 

Motherhood was directly responsible for Furtado becoming an artist. She felt compelled to take bigger chances with her own decision-making when she discovered how thoroughly her children observed her. She became a full-time artist in December 2020. Her children have never known her any other way.  

Often, for women, there are burdens in just being seen, as to be perceived is also to be immediately judged. Furtado’s work directly references the physicality and potential neutral perception of corporeal features like wrinkles and stretch marks, natural changes to materials and bodies over time, and the maternal softness of rounded shapes. She is also deeply influenced by oceanic and botanical shapes in Southern California and representations of figurative and human-like anatomical structures. She incorporates hand-carved stamps, mono-printing onto canvas and paper, and slow-stitched details like embroidery and beadwork. The artworks become intricate structures with complex texture and topography.  These forms and materials often represent symbols of utility, freedom (or loss) of choice, and societal burdens. 

Photo Credit: Chris Wojdak