Kym Balthazar Fetsko

Kym Balthazar Fetsko

Kym Balthazar Fetsko is a contemporary abstract painter who lives and works in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, right outside of Scranton. She is a University of the Arts graduate and was an award-winning illustrator for two decades. Kym took advantage of the pandemic time at home to fully invest in the opportunity to develop her abstract paintings and transition from illustration.

Her oil and cold wax paintings are inspired by emotion and music and are brought to life by building and excavating grungy, textural layers until the history of each painting’s journey is revealed and the final layer of wax is applied.

New to showcasing her work, recent paintings have been selected for numerous juried exhibitions including Pennsylvania's Art of the State 2021, The Rice Gallery of Fine Art Juried Exhibition, and The SDMAAG Winter Exhibition. She has also shown her artwork locally in the Poconos and Scranton, PA. Kym’s art is found in many private collections throughout the United States.

Artist Statement:

A few decades spent creating editorial illustrations left me burnt out and yearning to make art that once again excited me. As terrifying as this pandemic is, I'm grateful it gave me time to revisit the type of art that always inspired me - abstract painting.

​Truth be told – I’m a Type “A”, bona fide control freak, and my illustrations alluded to that point. I was structured and precise, deadline-driven, and accustomed to having concepts and design already laid out for me. Becoming an abstract painter forced me into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable space of unpredictability and playfulness. While many aspects of painting are under my control, what emerges once the oil and cold wax is laid down is often surprising. The freedom I’ve given myself to explore and create art that’s solely mine is both exhilarating and challenging. By building grungy, textural layers and then working back into them with tools and solvents, I’m allowed to learn and make mistakes and to grow as an artist for the first time in a long while. You’ll still find remnants of my illustrative past with the incorporation of sharp lines and collage, but it’s the push and pull of creating an oil and cold wax piece that motivates me to witness what emerges by the time the final layer of wax is applied.

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