In the heart of our artist incubator, Portrait of an Artist in a Safe Space, we invite you to join us each week on an exploration like no other. Together, we will shine a spotlight on a single artist, offering you a glimpse into their inner world. Get ready to be inspired as we reveal a curated selection of images from their archives, along with a backstage peek at their current projects.ðŸŽ
To kick off the series, we thought it'd be super cool to get to know our amazing artists a little better. So, we asked them to peak into their archives and some of their favorite promo images from over the years. 🤩 But that's not all! We also dug into their personal treasure trove of memories and perspectives.
Image Details: First off, where and when did these images come to life, and who's the creative genius behind them? We're all ears!
Image Context: Why did these artists pick these particular images? What's the story behind these visuals? Tell us all about it!
Personal Touch: And finally, what kind of memories or emotions do these images evoke for our talented artists today? We're dying to know the backstory, the inspiration, the whole shebang.
Let's jump right in! 💫
Kate Michael Gibson
Kate is a Creative Producer, Writer/Storyteller, and Performer based in the Ozarks of Northeastern Oklahoma, Green Country.
I like the colors in this shot and my expression. I was happy to use it as an update to the previous headshot I was using for CTC.
This is a selfie I took in 2020... I needed a new promo photo because the previous one was getting aged. I'm very proud of my pixie cut, as I started learning to cut my hair during the pandemic.
This was taken at the 2-Pony Ranch around 2015 by photographer Kopana Terry. It was a casual snap but because Ko is an amazing photographer, it turned out to be the best portrait I'd had in a long time.
It is a complex picture... I love the colors - the green sweater I bought in Paris in 2006, so it has fond memories and the earrings are cheerful. The smile is genuine and the day was a pleasant one, but it was also in the wake of a major death in the family, so very bittersweet.
This image was created in 2021 as part of the podcast my co-maker and long-time writing partner and bestie sister, Roslyn E. Harrison, and I were doing, called Sheros & Zeros. The format is us exchanging biographical stories of two women, one amazing and one terrible. We had a lot of fun making this show. We had done a series of short YouTube videos to promote the pod and this image was one we took during a shoot. Since we had our fabulous witch drag on, we wanted to capture the moment.
We had SO much fun playing with drag and doing our podcast and our silly promo videos. It was excellent and we learned and laughed a ton. It was so freeing to get to be clowns and be creative in unrestricted ways. It was a great tool for healing, which we both needed at the time.
This is a selfie I made in 2020. This was from a series of selfies I did just to entertain myself during the long time of quarantine. Something about this one reminded me of portraits of punk rockers and artists I looked to as a baby queer in magazines like Interview. That magazine was like a cultural oasis to me during my rural Oklahoma adolescence. It created a fantastical world in which being strange and different was celebrated and there was something so enticing to me about getting to hear one artist be interviewed by another, peer to peer. It was magical.
2020 was not a great time in life for me or for anyone in the world, really, but as always, art and playing, pretending, posing, and performance have always been an escape route and a lifeline to my mental health.
This photo was taken by extremely talented photographer Alex Miles Younger in 2008 in Boulder, Colorado. It was our first public CTC event, a staged reading of Peggy Firestone's INANNA
I love the dreamy and theatrical quality of this image. It was such a powerful and enjoyable process; I met fabulous artists, several of whom are still a big part of my life, as is CTC... 15 years!!!
Subscribe to CTC Digital
Your complimentary subscription unlocks a world of creative wonders, including:
Portrait Series: Delve into the captivating world of our Feature Artists with our weekly blog, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their creative process.
Contemporary Performance Gallery Access: Immerse yourself in the world of contemporary performance with unlimited access to our gallery.
Artist to Artist Resources: Explore a treasure trove of resources and tools tailor-made for both makers and visionaries, designed to fuel your artistic journey.
Exclusive Discounts: Enjoy special discounts on CTC events, performances, and activities that will add a dash of culture and creativity to your life.
​CTC Digital: Where artists, makers, and leaders find their creative home.
Subscribe today and join our vibrant community! 🌟
Check out Kate in action along with 14 artists and their collaborators inside CTC's Contemporary Performance Gallery! We are currently featuring short works by artists from across the U.S. and Mexico.
