Collapsed Distances, Collapsed Bodies by Katie Simmons

Collapsed Distances, Collapsed Bodies
Katie Simmons
May 27 - June 6, 2025
Reception: May 30, 5-7pm

Strata Gallery presents its Emerging Member solo exhibition Collapsed Distances, Collapsed Bodies, by Colorado-based artist Katie Simmons. The exhibition will run from May 27 through June 6, with a special reception on May 30 from 5-7pm.  

Katie Simmons creates drawings centered on the parallels she observes between the exploitation and commodification of the natural world and female bodies in the Anthropocene. Using natural dyes and fibers, Simmons works with materials in a way that promotes their agency and vitality. On top of dyed surfaces, Simmons then creates drawings of bodily ecosystems using a ballpoint pen. Simmons seeks to flatten hierarchies, embrace radical care, and explore making kin in our modern era.

Katie Simmons stated, “It is a privilege to be part of the emerging artists program at Strata Gallery and I am so excited to be involved in the Santa Fe Community. My work is about surviving abuse and commodification as a woman and seeing the same thing happening to other species and our planet. I see the Earth ravaged by man and feel a deep, shredding, hideous pit inside because I too know what it is to be raped, bought, and sold. My drawings are me seeking a path forward with other species through our shared experience of surviving man.” 

Katie Simmons is an artist, educator, and wildlife biologist from the Appalachian Mountains in East Tennessee. She holds baccalaureate degrees in art history, visual art, and wildlife biology, and her M.A. in education. Katie is currently an MFA candidate and instructor of drawing at Colorado State University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in group and solo shows. This is her first solo show in New Mexico. 

Strata Gallery is open from 11 am to 5 pm Tuesday – Saturday. For more information about Strata Gallery, the current exhibit, and the future schedule of events, please visit the Strata Gallery website and Instagram.

Katie Simmons, Oligocottus maculosus, 60” x 60”, Ballpoint pen, embroidery, bleach, cotton, 2024.

Katie Simmons, Fucus vesiculosus, 22” x 30”, Ballpoint pen and homemade dye made of bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) seaweed on watercolor paper, 2024.