Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa

Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa is a successful artist and filmmaker, as well as visiting professor of Fine Arts at a number of universities in Europe, the USA, and Canada. She is Professor Emeritus, Department of Studio Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, at Concordia University in Montreal and docent Professor of Sculpture in the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland.

In parallel with her sculptures and installation art, which have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the USA, Canada, and Europe, Kathryn has made a life-long study of textiles in all their forms, and has produced two award-winning videos on contemporary Maya fabric makers in Guatemala. The original concept and research for an in-progress series, “Through the Needles Eye,” which she is co-producing with Stonehaven Productions in Montreal, Canada, grew out of her fascination with this universal, ubiquitous, and surprisingly under-explored subject, cloth.

Her documentaries include: “Between Light and Shadow: Maya Women in Transition,” for which she was producer and co-director; and “Daughters of Ixchel: Maya Thread of Change,” for which she was the co-producer and director.

Kathryn was born and educated in North Dakota, then completed her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She presently lives and works both in Montreal and at her studio on the North Branch River, near Belvidere, Vermont.