Art teacher finds inspiration at St. Joseph Center
On the fourth floor of St. Joseph Center in North Little Rock, in what was once dorm room for boys, is a 1,200-square-foot studio occupied by artist Katherine Strause.
The space is open and airy, and although the original lights hanging from the ceiling of the 1910 building don’t offer much in the way of illumination, the sunlight that streams in through the tall windows is more than ample for a painter at work.
Strause, who lives in Little Rock with husband David Jukes, welcomed us into her spacious studio on a Thursday afternoon late last month. More than 20 large paintings were on the floor or lined against the walls, ready for transport to Windgate Gallery of Art and Design at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith where “Fierce Women: The Paintings of Katherine Strause,” opens today.
She has been working here for almost two years, and found the space not long after she and more than 80 other faculty members at Henderson State University abruptly lost their jobs in 2022 after cost-cutting measures at school, which was $78 million in debt. Strause, a Conway native, had been at HSU for 16 years.
“I was very sad for a long time,” she said. “That was my job, my career. It took me a while to get back on my feet.”
She began looking for a place to paint and took a tour of the center, which offers studio space for rent.
“I grew up Catholic, so this sort of architecture and the vibe here were overwhelming and familiar and very welcoming to me,” she said.
She looked at a few smaller spaces on the lower levels, but was immediately smitten when she entered the large room on the top floor with its inviting expanse and views of the countryside.
“I felt like I was about to have a heart attack,” she said. “I remember coming into this space and thinking, this is it.”
It was also a far cry from the 300-square-foot attic of her home that she’d been working in for decades.
“This was such a peaceful place, where I knew I could spend time and work,” she said with a smile. “I just wanted to be here.”
And never mind that the studio has no running water and isn’t heated or cooled. When she needs water she takes the stairs to the third floor and uses space heaters to keep warm in the winter.
“This is the best studio I’ve ever had,” she said.
MORE THAN AN ARTIST HAVEN
The 56,000 square-foot brick and stone building was originally called St. Joseph Home and sits on 63 acres overlooking North Little Rock on a hill near Camp Robinson. It was designed by renowned architect Charles L. Thompson and built by the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. The building, which was placed on the National List of Historic Places in 1976, began as an orphanage run by the diocese. Since then it has been used as a school, nursing home, day care and a retreat center operated by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica, according to information at stjosephcenter.org.
When the diocese announced it would close and sell the property in 2008, a group formed the nonprofit St. Joseph Center of Arkansas to save it. Two years later the center signed a 50-year lease and assumed
responsibility for the property.
In addition to artist’s studios there are spaces available to rent for parties, receptions, photo shoots and other gatherings. There are suites and rooms for overnight stays and areas to park RVs. The property is also home to a store and a working farm with livestock, garden plots, beehives and more.
Strause, who earned her undergraduate degree in painting from the University of Arkansas Little Rock and graduate degree from Southern Illinois University, said she comes to the studio every day around noon and works until around 6.
Her paintings are devoted to the female figure and she uses vintage photographs as references. The results are colorful, stylized works that call to mind Cezanne, Alice Neel, Pierre Bonnard and fellow Arkansas artist Carroll Cloar.
Her “Fierce Women” series is populated with cowgirls, old West outlaws like Belle Starr and even a young Sandra Day O’Connor on horseback long before she was a Supreme Court justice. Each painting is filled with buzzing, vibrant action, unrestrained glee and a fun sense of admiration; a tip of the cap from Strause across the decades to strong women who were good at what they did.
“What do you see in their faces,” she asked as we looked at some of the works. “I see confidence, I see women who are at the top of their game. … They have a sort of humor, and they are very much not concerned about what you think.”
After finding a reference image, Strause begins each painting by laying down a ground on the canvas using orange house paint. She took to that particular paint after using it on the walls in a hallway at her house years ago.
She draws the image using a blue marker, which complements the orange and then paints her subject in oil. The orange background shows through the final image in bits from beneath the oil paint, adding depth and energy to the painting.
Faces are crucial to her works, she said, and even now she sometimes still finds it difficult to get the likeness she wants.
“That’s your focal point. If you don’t get that right … it’s almost as if you’re on ice, just slipping around, or in a wrestling match.”
She often works on more than one painting at once and has three metal easels made by Klopfenstein, a German company, in the studio.
“We used these at the university and I bought them for myself because they are indestructible,” she said.
Strause is picky when it comes to brushes and prefers those made from sable hair.
“They’re expensive, and it’s like pulling teeth to order them, but brushes are super important.”
Up next for Strause is illustrating “From Almeda to Zilphia: Arkansas Women who Transformed American Popular Song,” a book by Stephen Koch about female musicians from the Natural State that will be published this spring by Little Rock publisher Et Alia.
“There will be 30 of them, eight by 10 on canvas,” she said of the portraits. “I’m ready to set them out, get the ground on and start the drawings.”
After an hour or so of visiting in her studio, Strause is eager to show us around the rest of the building and grounds. It’s obvious she loves not only having a studio here but just being on the property.
“This is such a happy place,” she said. “I’ll never give it up. Why would I?”