Weisberg named 2016 Festival poster artist

SANDPOINT — Local artist and conservationist Kathryn Weisberg has been selected to create the original artwork for the 2016 Festival at Sandpoint fine art poster.

Best known for her paintings of wildlife and impressionist landscapes, Weisberg was chosen by a committee of her artistic peers, made up of the Festival’s past poster artists and her selection was announced at the Festival’s Winefest benefit event last weekend.

“I was surprised and delighted to have been chosen as the Festival poster artist for 2016. This is the cultural highlight of our summer here in Sandpoint and has an enormous impact on the community on so many levels. Not to mention it is just plain fabulous to have such top musical talent come right to our doorstep to celebrate our breathtaking scenery and warm summer nights,” said Weisberg.

Kathryn “Kate” Weisberg grew up in the rural foothills of Mt. Diablo where she rode horses on her parents 2200-acre ranch. She searched for birds’ nests and arrow heads, climbed trees and waded through hip-high grasses for 12 years, development “my early and lasting love for nature and wildlife.”

Weisberg is descended from a lineage of artists. She recalls the breathtaking watercolors of a great-aunt, whose pieces she admired as a child. Her mother was a concert level pianist and folk artist. Her high school art teacher nurtured her blossoming talent. “He took me to the first level and gave me the courage to fail my way to success,” she said.

After her studies at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, a recruiter interested in her calligraphic work introduced her to Xerox where she was asked to help with the development of fonts for a new impact printing technology. It was the beginning of a long career in high tech with development positions at Xerox, NASA, Apple and Adobe. She was the lead on scalable font technology for the MacIntosh in the late 1980s.

Never abandoning her painting throughout her high tech career, Weisberg has been showing internationally since the early 1990s. She studied with the noted wildlife artist Richard Sloan. Her work has been exhibited widely in Idaho, California, Vancouver, Ontario, Colorado, South Caroline, Vermont, London and Beijing.

She continued living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area until 2005, when her yearning for a more nature-rooted lifestyle led her to North Idaho and Lake Pend Oreille. Surrounded by the majestic Cabinet and Selkirk Mountains, she has kept a studio in the Sandpoint area for 10 years. At the same time, she has traveled extensively through Central and South America, Europe, Scandinavia, and the Arctic with the child-like eye of a naturalist in search of the colorful people, wildlife and landscapes that comprise her work.

Weisberg is a Signature Member of the Artist for Conservation, a non-profit, international organization of nature artists supporting wildlife and habitat conservation, biodiversity, sustainability and environmental education through art. In 2010 Weisberg joined Canadian artis and co-founder of ArtSavingWildlife to support the African Conservation Foundation where 80 percent of the proceeds from prints of the African species go directly the ACF which works to preserve African wildlife.

“Creating a work for this event is somewhat daunting as it is so important to honor your selection by a jury of your peers. There have been so many wonderful works created for this event over the past 33 years, they are a hard act to follow. I sincerely thank all the past Poster artists for allowing me this opportunity (and for their) recognition of my work … It is an honor to have received this distinction amongst so many other talented members in the community,” she said.

The Festival will unveil Weisberg’s original artwork at the much anticipated Poster Unveiling event on Thursday, July 14, at Dish at Dover Bay to kick off the Festival’s 34th annual summer concert series set for Aug. 4-14, 2016 at Memorial Field in Sandpoint. Festival organizers are thrilled with the selection.

“I have a feeling that Kate’s observant nature and immense talent are going to combine to capture the heart and soul of a Festival beloved by the Sandpoint community,” Festival Executive Director Dyno Wahl said.

The artwork will be displayed on posters and other Festival memorabilia during the season, and the original will be auctioned off to benefit The Festival at Sandpoint, a non-profit arts organization. Visit the artist’s website at www.kathrynweisberg.com. For Festival information and tickets, visit www.FestivalatSandpoint.com or call 208-265-4554.