Kathleen Speranza has explored many representational subjects in her more than 40 years of painting and teaching. During her distinguished academic career, she taught painting and drawing at all college levels, most recently at the Rhode Island School of Design. She currently teaches travel workshops and online at kathleensperanza.podia.com. She holds a BFA from Boston University and an MFA from Yale.

Her paintings explore the visual language of space, light, color, and form as it relates to specific subjects from nature. The current body of work investigates the poetic potential of botanical life. Her works relating to garden roses, with their extreme subtlety of color and structure, are perhaps her best-known images.

Rose for Democracy #1 is the first painting in a series of work dedicated to the support and defense of freedom and liberty which are under threat in the US and abroad.

“My subjects speak to me but they also speak for me. I wanted this rose to feel fragile, yet strongly resistant to the gravity pulling it down. The surface of the blossom felt like a pearl to me, precious and luminous from within. As an American artist, I have always assumed that our Democracy was secure. The shocking fact that this is no longer true has inspired a new group of paintings. I believe that beauty can be a powerful force of inspiration and I feel compelled to contribute to the current fight for everything this country stands for.”