Katrina Polhamus creates colorful acrylic paintings that combine birds, metallic gold, and pattern. Her work reflects her deep respect, concern, and love for nature. Born in 1976, she grew up in Hudson, Ohio, loving and practicing art from the time she could hold a crayon. Frequent art classes, many visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and both domestic and international travel helped build her enthusiasm for art and design throughout her childhood.
Katrina’s creativity first took shape through a BS in Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University in 1998, including a study-abroad experience at the Catholic University of Córdoba in Córdoba, Argentina. She then practiced landscape architecture for 12 years, focusing on residential landscape design and creating colorful, textural landscapes that held personal meaning for her clients in Chicago, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio. Her desire to study art formally at a higher level led her to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she earned her MFA in Painting in 2007 while also working part-time in landscape architecture. At SCAD, she was awarded the Board of Visitors II Scholarship.
In 2010, after becoming a stay-at-home mother, Katrina turned her creative and artistic energy toward enriching her children’s lives. For a decade, she dedicated herself to creative family life. Art and creativity took new forms during these years: her home, gardening, cakes, costumes, parties, children’s art projects, photography, and family adventures all became ways to celebrate the beauty of the world together. A family trip to a local nature preserve – where native birds will take seed directly from your hand – sparked a lasting artistic interest in birds.
Embracing the entirety of her creative journey has led Katrina to the artwork she creates today. Every experience she has had, whether making formal art or not, has influenced and inspired her work. Her architectural background shows through in her precise draftsmanship, rendering, and design sensibility. Her travels and home life have shaped her love of pattern and color, while time spent in nature observing flora and fauna continues to spark her imagination and inspire her paintings.
Since 2022, Katrina has worked full-time on her art from her home studio in Hudson, Ohio. She has participated in various juried and group exhibitions across Ohio, including the Ohio Arts Council’s Biennial Juried Exhibition in Fall 2025 and a traveling public art project titled Birdsong with Door2Art in Hudson, Ohio. In 2023, she held a solo exhibition, The Golden Aviary, with Strauss Studios in Canton, Ohio. Katrina is a firm believer in following your dreams – against all odds.
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