I am an interdisciplinary artist working in media spanning performance, video, photography, installation, as well as painting & drawing. My work is unified around feminist themes related to psychological wellbeing, care, illness, family and belonging. My artistic production results in performance based work along with painting & drawing. These forms have been used interchangeably to engage community and the self. My three decades long career includes over 70 National and International exhibitions. Awards include Arts Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities (2025), the 2024 Forward Art Prize, as well as two time finalist (2021, 2023). In 2019, Claire Gilman, Chief Curator of Drawing Center of New York, recognized my work for an Award of Distinction in the 10th Annual International Drawing Exhibition at University North Carolina-Asheville.
Influences of my rural Illinois upbringing provide source imagery for my paintings I would describe as neo-surreal feminist folk. Paul Krainak, critic and writer with Bad At Sports reviewed my 2024 solo show at Arts & Literature Lab in Madison. He describes my figurative painting “as being more related to the domain of neurological than psychological with an uncanny ruralism that carries the burden of loss and the uncertain present in my depictions of place”. He continues, “Kautz’s dream imagery pulses in huddled spaces, rather than a close read, it’s more satisfying to measure the grammatical overlap between Surrealist figuration and the neurotransmitted spirits that have persisted in rural American art since mid-century.” My paintings will be included in “The Contemporary Surreal”, at Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee opening in 2026. In 2025, I curated the first public contemporary art exhibition in Sun Prairie, WI. “Beyond O’Keeffe: Contemporary Artists in Wisconsin” featured work of 32 artists and a public lecture.
My durational, socially engaged, performance based works have been included in publications, film festivals, and exhibitions. These works focus on motherhood, belonging, and community care. “Artist Working: One Year Performance on Art, Caregiving, and Value” (2016-2017) won a Social Art Award through the Institute of Art and Innovation in Berlin, Germany (2019). It was also included in the Women’s Caucus For Art National Exhibition (2020). Every day for one-year, I wore a white jumpsuit with the words “Artist Working” on the back. I never took it off and never washed it. I allowed the residue of my daily life to accumulate while I documented this research project with photography, video, writing, and on social media. “Staring at the Sky: Essays on Art and Culture”(2024) by Douglas Rosenberg discusses “Artist Working” within the larger discourse of feminist performance art. I am honored to have “Artist Working” curated into an important historical exhibition in Leicester, UK (2026). “Residue: What Remains” exhibition at Leicester Gallery at De Montfort University will feature artworks by iconic Fluxus artists from the 60’s alongside artworks by contemporary artists. My work will be included alongside significant artists of the 20th Century. The images in my application represent work included in the UK exhibition as well as examples of current paintings.
"I think most people want art in their community; they want vibrant communities, they want colorful communities, they want creative opportunities for their kids [...] and for themselves. [They want] to see culture and experience new ideas and be enlivened by the arts..."
My work, “Artist Working: One Year Performance on Art, Caregiving and Labor” (2016-2017), was curated into an international exhibition and corresponding public programming in Leicester, UK. Residue…What Remains at Leicester Gallery at De Montfort University (DMU), features an extensive collection of Fluxus artworks by iconic artists of this avant garde, 20th century art movement alongside Contemporary artworks.
My work will be displayed from March-June 2026 alongside artists who influenced my work and research since 1999-including works by; Carolee Schneeman, Yoko Ono, Joseph Bueys, John Cage, Anna Halprin, Trisha Brown, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Rauschenberg. Sue Schroeder, exhibition Curator, writes about the goals and vision of the show in the exhibition statement: “Committed to raising awareness of the constellational scope of influence of Fluxus into present day artistic practice, our goal is to provide a gathering point for people from a variety of backgrounds to interact through art, ideas, and discourse and to facilitate and support personal and artistic agency. Public programs, performances and installations, propositions, co-directed by Sue Schroeder and Hugo Worthy, will take place over the life of the exhibition including:
I am developing new work for a solo exhibition in 2027 at Prairie Arts Center in Princeton, Illinois. My research on surrealism, illness, and psychology of trauma will be informed by experiencing artworks by women surrealists including Louise Bourgeois at the Tate Modern in London, the Scottish National Gallery of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland and the renowned collection of German Expressionist art at the Leicester Museums and Galleries. This trip will be generative; aiding production of new visual imagery and ideas for this new body of work.
The long term benefits of participating in the exhibition programming is an elevation and expansion of my artistic research and career. In-person attendance and engagement with the exhibition allows for professional networking, artistic research, and experiential learning. My involvement in this exhibition locates my work in the art historical trajectory of significant movements such as feminist performance art. This project magnifies and expands my individual artistic capacity on an international scale but also positions my work as a representative of the Wisconsin arts economy. This opportunity builds my capacity for future success locally, nationally and abroad. My work will find a new audiences and discourses surrounding illness and care.
