Healing Through Art

Kathleen Wallace is an artist based in Harford County, Maryland. She has been creating art her entire life, even selling her first drawings to classmates in elementary school. Drawn to exploration and experimentation, she works across a range of mediums, with a current focus on porcelain ceramics, basketry, and acrylic painting.

For Kathleen, art has long been a place of peace, meditation, and healing. After a childhood marked by trauma and a period of struggle in her teenage years, she eventually found renewed purpose in motherhood. Like many mothers, she experienced a sense of losing herself along the way, but ultimately rediscovered her identity through a deepened connection to art. In later years, while navigating chronic pain and a diagnosis of PTSD, she has continued to rely on her creative practice as a powerful and restorative outlet.

Driven by a desire to support others on their own healing journeys, Kathleen earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and began pursuing further studies in art therapy. While completing her art credits at Harford Community College, she entered the 2021 Annual Juried Student Art & Design Exhibition. Her ceramic and pine needle vase received both the Juror’s Choice Award and the College Purchase Award, and is now part of the college’s permanent collection on display in Joppa Hall.

In 2022, Kathleen launched “Hunt the Good Stuff,” a community art initiative inspired by a resiliency building practice of the same name. The project involved hiding free artwork throughout Harford County, each piece accompanied by information encouraging positive psychology and resilience. She plans to revive and expand this project in the near future.

Kathleen and her husband have been married for 22 years. Following his retirement from the military in 2023, they chose to settle in Maryland. She is currently planning to build a dedicated art space on their property, where she hopes to share her passion for creativity and foster connection by teaching and engaging with others in her community.