Although Kathleen House did not take her first art class until she was 16 years old, she discovered many outlets for creative expression throughout her early years. She clearly recalls drawing on her grandmother’s porch at 3 years of age. Later, she would draw and label images for her junior high science classes. As she continued to hone her artistic skills, she learned the importance of setting goals and completing them by selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door. She still claims that the Girl Scouts was one of the biggest influences on her life. 

 

Her 5th grade experiences in choir and band molded her taste for art through music, and she continued this passion while playing in the marching band during her freshman year of college. During the summer before her senior year at the age of 16, Kathleen took her first drawing class at the local community center. 

 

With these cumulative positive creative experiences behind her, Kathleen decided to major in art education at Kansas State University and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education. Her degree combined with her previous experience combined to accelerate her career as an art teacher, business owner and successful studio artist.

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Kathleen moved her family to Hurst, Texas in 1980 where she worked as an elementary school substitute teacher and after only four years, the entire family moved to Coppell, Texas. After volunteering to teach three mandated fifth grade art classes, Kathleen saw a need and developed a formal elementary art education proposal. She was immediately given a permanent position by the Coppell School District in 1986. She proceeded to develop a formal elementary art education program and co-wrote original curriculum. Within a short span of ten years, Kathleen was able to orchestrate a full elementary program. 

 

While employed by Coppell School District, Kathleen and a fellow art teacher co-founded and operated Art Daze. Art Daze was an education program which included summer art camps and weekly art classes for children from ages 4-18. In 1986-1995, while working for Coppell ISD, taking care of family, and involved in Art Daze, she also decided to return to college to complete a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Texas Women’s University in 1992. 

 

By 1995, both of her daughters were in college, and Kathleen and her husband were ready to move to the country. They discovered a lovely property with the original house, chicken coop and horse barn. In 1999, after one of her daughters graduated, they decided to found an art education business in Flower Mound, Texas that was named Art House. They added a second location in Southlake, Texas and ran the business together for 12 years, eventually selling it in 2011. 

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In 2002, House was part of a founding group that created the Cross Timbers Artist’s Guild. During that time she continued to create multiple painting series as well as focus on family. She created her most recent series, Visual Discomfort, based on the discomforting feelings and views she witnesses all around her residence and property.

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In addition to her career as an art educator and an abstract painter, she is a wife, mother and grandmother. With her strong art history and experience, Kathleen continues to seek new challenges and outlets to express her art passion.