We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kat Furtado a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kat, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve been able to participate in just wrapped up. I was part of the first annual “Taking.Up.Space. Initiative” through the Thrive Together Network (previously the Artist/Mother Podcast community and the Thrive Artist Collective). Taking.Up.Space is a collaborative effort for womxn artists to combat gender inequity within the art world. Artists are encouraged to create their own exhibitions and gallery shows in the month of May.

Just this past May, for T.U.S. 2022, I collaborated with Aparajita Jain Mahajan, an artist in India, to create a collaborative exhibition entitled, “Attachment; Abbreviated”. She and I met through the Artist/Mother podcast community. For this exhibit, the two of us wanted to explore how to shorten (or “abbreviate”) the physical distance between us in a unique collaborative virtual exhibit. The best part is that we incorporated our children as well, making the exhibition multi-generational and adding another layer of meaning to the entire collaboration.

Aparajita and I began by exchanging precious materials from our art studios, including Aparajita’s inherited textiles from her Mother’s practice and my own mixed media papers and art. In just under two full months, we mailed materials to and from India and San Diego, and created six pieces of original art. We also photographed moments from our lives. Our children (D. Mahajan, age 8 / I. Furtado, age 6 / J. Furtado, age 4) exchanged materials as well. They each made one mixed media artwork apiece, which premiered in the exhibition.

Aparajita and I found this collaboration to be especially meaningful because of our individual ties to each other’s homelands. For example, Aparajita’s mother lived in the United States in the 70s. Aparajita also went to college at the Rhode Island School of Design. I also have ties to India. In 2011, I married my husband Ryan. His family hails from Goa, India and we still have family there. In the 1980s, his parents came from India to America and began a life here. My husband was born in the mid-80s, so almost 40 years later, here we are. No one could have known that long ago that the children and grandchildren of people moving across the world to start on new adventures would someday be meeting and working together. It feels like a brilliant, beautiful cycle of time and connection.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Of course! Hi, everyone. I’m Kat Furtado.

I’m a Mom, an artist, and I’m also a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). That part of my career life is on hold because while I was on maternity leave (and then extended maternity leave), I discovered that I was yearning to occupy creative space. I began painting, and my career as an artist blossomed bit by bit from there.

I started my art business in 2019, and I now sell original art, create illustrative merchandise, and I also enter my work into juried exhibitions and other art-centered media. I have a release of small original paintings (mostly floral collage and abstraction) at the end of June, and my first solo show of all kinds of work is in September through the Women United Art Movement. The best part about my solo show is that it is all virtual, so anyone from anywhere in the world can access it!

There’s a lot that sets me apart in the art world, but the biggest thing is my career as an SLP. Speech-Language Pathologists provide therapeutic intervention for people to help them best communicate their needs, wants, and ideas. We support people in a wide variety of settings, including acute care and outpatient support, rehabilitation, school systems, and even in the neonatal intensive care unit. We work with the entire spectrum of human growth and development, from tiny babies to the oldest among us. And this, above all, means I value communication in everything I do. Communication, after all, is the one thing that truly links sentient beings to one another. Art, for me, is an extension of communication, community, and connection. I want people to see my art and feel seen, heard, and validated. I want them to feel home and WELCOME just as they are.

When people see the paintings they have purchased from me, I want them to see themselves reflected back at them in a way they’ve never been able to see. That’s why I love love love what I do as an artist. There’s nothing better than getting an e-mail from a Collector that says, “Your painting today gave me that little boost of motivation…” or “Your painting makes my house feel like home…”

Creating art, for me, is a chance to make people feel more whole, more connected to the world around them, and more satisfied with their spaces and homes.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

This is the easiest answer ever. Are you ready?

Buy art directly from artists. Get to know artists through their social media. Follow them, like their work, comment and share. Sign up for their e-newsletters and contact them directly if you have questions. Social media offers you a unique chance to see artists as they are behind the scenes. It’s a direct line to YOU and a direct line from you to THEM. All that means you can connect with artists you love in ways that have never been available or possible until now.

Art is a reflection of our humanity. It’s a reflection of what is important to us in the world. It shows our history, our current occupations, and our lives. It’s one way of communicating that literally breaks barriers–anyone from any country using any language can see a painting and FEEL what it conveys.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m still very much building my audience, but I’ll tell you the one thing I wish I had known from the very beginning: having a massive following (which I still don’t have) should never, in my opinion, be the goal. I know people who have giant followings and no sales. I know people with teensy tiny businesses who sell out every time. Sales and numbers aren’t the be all and end all either.

There’s only one metric that really matters, and that’s whether you feel like you’re accomplishing what you know you want to do. The only way to do that is to be your whole entire self. The one thing that works every time is being a genuine, authentic human who actually cares about the people behind the usernames. So as cliché as it sounds, being yourself is the answer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katfurtadoart.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/katfurtadoart
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/katfurtadoart

Image Credits
Kate B. Myers Photography Kat Furtado Art