Dropkicking wrestling mythology. You team babyface? Or heel? Powerslamming all the media. Drag up a metal folding chair and let me tell you a story….

B I O Filmmaker Kathryn Usher’s latest project is the animated short The Bears We Wrestle. In early 2021, Kathryn won honorable mention in the literary division of Critical Mass IX. In January 2016, she landed in art critic Dave Hickey’s book Wasted Words — an experimental work on social media and art. In 2015, she worked with Nick Cave on the eight month artist-in-residence project AS IS. Kathryn has more than 30 years experience as a professional artist and was selected as a Critic’s Choice Collectible Artist by art critic Robert Pincus. In the early 1990s, Louisiana selected her to be on their state artist roster. Kathryn was a radio broadcaster and journalist before branching into other forms of art.

S E L E C T E D SOLO E X H I B I T I O N S
2021
Sad Shorts, Outdoor Installation, Shreveport
2013
Red Juicy Vibrations, Meadows Museum, Shreveport (Juror Connie Bostic)
 
S E L E C T E D G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S
2021
Critical Mass IX, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2020
Materiality, Artspace. Shreveport
QuaranTime, Artspace, Shreveport
2019
Collectors’ Eye, Artspace, Shreveport
Critical Mass VII, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2018
Critical Mass VI, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2017
Et Tu, Art Brute?, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY (curator Jamie Sterns)
InGRAVED, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce)
Artspace Artist Studios, Artspace, Shreveport
Collectible Artists Exhibition, Central Art Station, Shreveport
Critical Mass V, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2016
The Making of As Is by Nick Cave, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Directors Nick Cave and Bob Faust)
HOSTS Artists at Work, Turner Art Center, Shreveport (Artistic Director Bruce Allen)
Critical Mass IV, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2015
Critical Mass III, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2014
Alice 3.0, Museum of Oxford, Oxford, UK (Artistic Director Dr. Melissa Westbrook)
Critical Mass II, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2013
Critical Mass, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2012
Xmas Under da Ground, Minicine? Swampland, Shreveport (Artistic Director David Nelson)
Bonafide! 2, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce)
Common Seen, Artspace, Shreveport (Curator Neil Johnson permanent exhibit at Central Artstation)
Artists-at-Work, Meadows Museum, Shreveport (Juror Connie Bostic)
Street Art, En Plein Air Gallery Shreveport (Artistic Director and curator Nadine Charity)
2011
Presents, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce)
Dia de Los Muertos, Minicine? Swampland, Shreveport
Texas Avenue Midnight Special, Minicine? Swampland, Shreveport
Impromptu, Artspace, Shreveport (Artistic Director William Joyce Critic Robert Pincus)

S E L E C T E D P R O J E C T S
2021
Artist/Author/Director/Performer The Bears We Wrestle five minute animated short about using wrestling moves to defeat grief and cyber harassers.
Artist/Author/Performer When My Cyber Harasser Moved Next Door A triptych in three disciplines consisting of a triptych on paper, a performance on video and a personal essay manuscript. Artspace. Shreveport.
2020
Project Manager The Wire Trust socially distanced artwork sculpture and bee garden, Shreveport
2019
Director James Marks: Revolution documentary
Performer/Storyteller All Y’all Podcast “Flies”
2018
Artist of seven beaded blankets selected for public art installation, Shreveport Common, funded by the NEA
Designer SB Magazine Fashion Show
2017
Artist/mural designer Shreveport UNCommon Murals (Artistic Director Lesli Marshall)
2016
Nick Cave AS IS
AS IS Art Documentary, produced by Moviesauce Productions
AS IS exhibition book featuring beaded blankets and essays on the blankets
Performer/Storyteller All Y’all Live: Haunted
2015
Nick Cave AS IS
Highland Open Studio Tour Sundays (HOSTS) (Featured artist and artist studio)
2014
Highland Open Studio Tour Sundays (HOSTS) (Featured artist and artist studio)
Red River Revel Festival, (Featured Artist of the Day)
UNSCENE! Wayne White, July (On site Wayne White mask collaboration)
UNSCENE! Rich Table, June (Commissioned letter sculptures)
UNSCENE! Airlift Music Houses, May studio assistant
UNSCENE! Airlift Music Houses, May (Wind Balls kinetic sculptures)
UNSCENE! Stan Lewis, March 10 foot tall Three Breasted Guitar Woman (puppet sculpture)
2013
UNSCENE! Let’s Maker a Parade, November (Artistic Director Brandon Oldenburg)
UNSCENE! We Are the Residents Virtual parade, October, (Artistic Director Brandon Oldenburg, Curators Rob Peterson and Robert Greenwood)
Kallenberg Tower Gallery, SRAC, Shreveport (Artistic Director and curator Kathryn Usher)
LAS Labor Art Sweat Guerrilla Drop-In Artist Residency, SRAC, Shreveport (Co Artistic Directors Nadine Charity and Kathryn Usher)
Texas Avenue Midnight Special, One of three artists who documented the new downtown home of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council – Central Artstation
Co-Artistic Directors Nadine Charity and Kathryn Usher
 
C O M M U N I T Y P R O J E C T S
Member Highland Cultural District Steering March 2021 – Present
Co-Leader Highland Open Studio Tour Sundays (HOSTS) January 2017 – December 2018
 
A W A R D S A N D H O N O R S
2021
Louisiana Division of the Arts “Artist’s Emergency Relief Grant”
Honorable mention Critical Mass IX, Literary
2017
Best of Discipline:Literary (InGRAVED/Artspace)
Northwest Louisiana Artists Roster, SRAC (Juror Robert Pincus)
Culture Crush Collectible Artist (Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2015
Common Culture Collectible Artist (Critics Curator Robert Pincus)
2014
Art Ambassador grant by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council
2013
Artist as Entrepreneur, The Arts Council of New Orleans, SRAC, Shreveport, LA
2012
First Prize, The Friends of the Algur Meadows Museum Poetry Contest in conjunction with the artwork Matador by Monica Zeringue, Shreveport, LA (Juror Louisiana Poet Laureate Julie Kane)
Northwest Louisiana Artists Roster, SRAC (Juror Brett Campbell)
 
S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Makenzie Boucher, “Shreveport Artist Turning Grief into Art,” Shreveport Times, September 17, 2021
Greg Brownderville, “Critical Success Literary,” Shreveport Times, May 2, 2021
Manuel Mendoza and Lauren Smart, “Critical Success Performing,” Shreveport Times, May 2, 2021
Tiana Kennell, “Pandemic Interpreted Through Art in New Exhibit,” Shreveport Times, July 24, 2020
Tiana Kennell, “Multiple Eclectic Art Shows to Open This Week,”, Shreveport Times January 22, 2020
Tiana Kennell, “Eye-Catching, Bold Exhibits,” Shreveport Times, May 31, 2018 Henrietta Wildsmith, “Shreveport-Bossier on Instagram: artist Kathryn Usher,” Shreveport Times, March 22, 2018
Staff Report, “Makers Fair Big Scene,” Shreveport Times, April 2, 2017
Tiana Kennell, “25 NWLA Artists You Need to be Collecting Now!,” Shreveport Times, March 30, 2017
Staff Report, “See Who’s in Artspace’s Artist Studios,” Shreveport Times, March 30, 2017
Bonnie Culverhouse, “April Culture Crush,” Forum News, March 29, 2017
Gwynned Vitello, “Nick Cave in Shreveport,” Juxtapoz, April 2016
Danielle Georgiou, “Suited Up,” Theater Jones Reviews, March 23, 2016
Dorothy Kendrick, “Nick Cave As Is,” LPB Art Rocks!, February 26, 2016
Adam Duvernay, “Nick Cave brings the beginning of something special,” Shreveport Times, January 25, 2016
Tori Bush, “Interview with Nick Cave,” Daily Serving, December 4, 2015
Staff Report “$190,000 Grant Will Support Nick Cave’s Artist Residency in Shreveport,” Artforum, November 14, 2015
Tiana Kennell, “It’s Like Sesame Street on Acid,” Shreveport Times, July 29, 2015
Jada Durden, “Five Things to do in Shreveport this Weekend,” Shreveport Times, April 2, 2015
Courtney Spradlin, “Some SBC Artists Struggle for Return on Investment,” Shreveport Times, August 18, 2014
Miles Oliver, “Local Artist Profile: Kathryn Usher,” Heliopolis, October 3, 2013
Su Stella, Krusher, Louisiana Road Trips, July/August, 2013
Lauren Buscemi, “Art Critique ‘Critical Mass‘,” The Forum, March 20, 2013
Robert Trudeau, “Louisiana’s Poet Julie Kane…,” Shreveport Blog, November 2, 2012
Kelly Phelan Powell, “Artist Profile Kathryn Usher,” The Forum, September 5, 2012
 
S E L E C T E D L E C T U R E S
Artist Talk, Grow Your Art Business with Highland Open Studio Tour Sundays, Artspace, Shreveport, LA, 2017
Artist Talk, Artist-in-Residence Making of the Beaded Blankets, Artspace, Shreveport LA 2016
 
S E L E C T E D C O L L E C T I O N S A N D C O M M I S S I O N S
Wayne White and Mimi Pond, CA
Evan and Sarah Rich, CA
Brandon Oldenburg, LA
Fitch Brothers, PA
Sue Kreitzman, London, UK
Shreveport Regional Arts Council, LA
Sandi Kallenberg, LA
Melissa Albritton, LA
Judy Williams, LA
Pam and Bob Atchison, LA
The Honorable Cedric Glover, Mayor of the City of Shreveport, LA
Penne Mobley, LA
Jodie Glorioso, LA