Bio
Kassie Hennessey, artist. Took me a long time to be comfortable making that claim, but I finally have. I currently work in graphite, charcoal, pigmented pencil, and pastel.
I studied at Wittenberg University in Ohio. I have always been part of the group who got attention for my work, though I did not ever feel that I should have been, for I am insecure as hell. I always felt that everyone knew more and did better. After many forays through many mediums, I settled on clay and ran businesses of my own-one wholesale-and one retail. Eventually, I ended up as a sculptor.
When working in clay, I was involved in several Maine-based artist associations which supported thriving art communities through exhibitions and workshops, while building and promoting sales for Maine-based artists. I had booths in many juried shows which were sponsored by these groups, and I was represented at trade shows across the United States, again, promoting Maine-based artists. I had an abundance of relationships with National Park Service shops, and affiliations with museum shops and small galleries.
A profound life change brought me back to drawing. I enjoy, as I did when working in clay, utterly fixating on a nature focused body of work, and in a solitary environment.
Statement
When Feathers Appear, my studies in graphite, this body of work, now pastel and
pigmented pencil, began with the beckoning sound of birdsong. Usually in the woods, frequently by the shore, birdsong filled the air. It became the soundtrack of my life, it would seem. I was aware and I appreciated all that was before me. One day, life changed for me, as it does for everyone.
After experiencing profound loss, I rarely heard or even enjoyed the birdsong. I began to look down. I began to wrap myself in deep thoughts of all that I had lost. Still wandering in the woods, still finding myself by the shoreline, I eventually began to see, and I began to look for signs...signs of forward thinking, signs of hope.
And feathers appeared before me.
Hope is a thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all
~ Emily Dickinson 1891