Katie Pumphrey
Baltimore, Maryland
Artist & open water swimmer, Katie Pumphrey, lives and works in Baltimore, MD.
MessageKatie Pumphrey is an American contemporary artist. Her paintings, sculptures, and installations use abstraction and imagery to explore the tensions and the connectedness between human instincts and play. Her works have been exhibited in galleries across the United States, including solo exhibitions in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Key West. In 2009, she graduated from the Maryland Institute College of art with a BFA in Painting. She has attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Studios of Key West, Gallery Four, and the Creative Alliance.
Pumphrey is also a marathon open water swimmer. Notable swims include the English Channel (2015, 2022), around the island of Manhattan (2017), and the Catalina Channel (2018)— those three swims make up the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Pumphrey was the 194th person (73rd woman) in the world to achieve that honor. Her work is deeply connected to swimming, and her experiences in the water greatly influence and drive her work. Pumphrey lives and works in Baltimore, MD.
Statement
Pulling from my experiences as an open water swimmer, my paintings and sculptures explore the tensions and connectedness between human instincts and play. My work invites that familiar struggle we all face, again and again, to find control and ease the tension. Our imagination and anxieties play games, convincing us we’re swimming into darkness and it will swallow us whole. With playful imagery, vibrating color, and a bit of silliness, my work wrestles these feelings and invites a bit of humor to ease the turbulence and lighten the load. Again and again, the waves of anxiety and uncertainty keep coming for us. The sea monsters continue lurking. But we exhale slowly, adjust to the light, and again and again swim forward. Again and again we stand on the edge, ready to jump feet first into the shark-infested pool of our fears, not knowing how to get to the other side. And over and over, we tell ourselves, it's gonna be fun. Promise. Just jump.