Kate Kern Mundie is a mid-career landscape artist and educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a certificate in printmaking and painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Her work focuses on interactions between humanity and nature, with both urban cityscapes and natural environmental scenes being prominent subjects in her work. Her works are often created in plein air, adding an additional level of authenticity to her outdoor subjects. Her focus on environmental realism is reflected through vibrant colors and the inclusion of human made structures within natural landscapes. Despite living in Philadelphia, Mundie often spends time on Deer Isle, Maine, the scenery of which often influences her work. She is active and prominent within both the Pennsylvania artist community and the Deer Isle artist community. She has won a variety of awards throughout her decades-long career, including the Best In Show & Donald Meyer Medal at the 2025 Art of the Flower exhibition. Her current gallery affiliations are with the F.A.N. gallery in Philadelphia, PA, the Station Gallery in Greenville, DE, and the Carver Hill Gallery in Camden, ME.
Artist Statement
Color is at the heart of my practice. On every walk through neighborhoods, along shorelines, into fields, I am looking for colors that stop me: combinations that vibrate against each other, or harmonize in a way I want to understand.
My work begins outside. I walk, stopping to take photographs and make sketches. I paint outdoors. I pay attention to what draws my eye: a specific quality of afternoon light on a building, the way a hillside looks after a hard winter, the traces of human activity. For what cannot be painted on site, I carry back to the studio.
My subjects are landscapes. I am interested in the intersection of natural environments and human influence, in how land absorbs use, how it changes over time, and how those changes are made visible. I want to explore the relationship between humans, animals, and the landscape. Climate change is not a backdrop to my work; it is part of the subject. I consider my practice a form of environmental realism: an attempt to bear witness to the landscape as it actually exists, under real conditions, at a particular moment in time.
I work from two locations, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Deer Isle, Maine, and the two inform each other. The urban landscape and environs of the mid-Atlantic coast, with its density and layering, and the coastal landscape of Maine, with its long light and abrupt seasonal changes, are both sources. Plein air painting is central to my process, but so is time in the studio, where observation is refined and the painting is resolved on its own terms.
What I am after, in the end, is a painting that is a record of an emotional and physical encounter. The goal is for a viewer to stand in front of the work and recognize something true about a landscape they may or may not have seen, and feel connected to it.
Teaching is a natural extension of this practice. I teach watercolor, gouache, oil, and drawing workshops at the Philadelphia Sketch Club and Main Line Art Center, and work as a demo artist for Winsor & Newton, demonstrating materials and techniques at retail events, trade shows, and colleges. Explaining what paint can do, and why certain tools and processes matter, keeps me honest about my own work.
New Brunswick Art Salon 2026 – Oil and Mixed Media “Pigmented Perceptions” Exhibition
Education
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | Certificate, Painting and Printmaking
University of Pennsylvania | Bachelor of Fine Arts
Montserrat College of Art
Awards & Residencies
2025
Art of the Flower, Best in Show & the Donald Meyer Medal Award | Philadelphia Sketch Club
2024
Plein Air Salon Finalist, Landscape and Building in Oil
Iconic Loockerman Prize, Paint Dover! | The Biggs Museum of American Art
2023
Virtual Artist in Residence | Thrive Together Network, Philadelphia
2022
Virtual Artist in Residence | Artist/Mother, Philadelphia
2014
Elizabeth Bishop Artist in Residence | Great Village, Nova Scotia
2006–2007
Fred & Naomi Hazell Faculty Fellowship | Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial / Philadelphia Foundation
2003–2004
Fred & Naomi Hazell Faculty Fellowship | Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial / Philadelphia Foundation
Teaching and Professional Work
2025–present Demo Artist, Winsor & Newton / ColArt
2025–present Instructor, Philadelphia Sketch Club | Philadelphia, PA
2025–present Instructor, Main Line Art Center | Haverford, PA
2000–2007 Faculty, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial | Philadelphia, PA
Exhibition History
2026
Local Horizons: Coastal Mid-Atlantic Landscapes Peninsula Gallery, Lewes, DE
Water Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, ME
2nd Annual Judy Herman Members Exhibition Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
Art of the Flower Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Winter Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2025
Seasonal Favorites Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, ME
Works Under $300 Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Circle of Gems: Fellowship 2025 Annual Exhibition Box Spring Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
101 Artists: The Art of Collecting Art – Paintings from the Fred Danziger Collection The Boyer Gallery, The Hill School, Pottstown, PA
Little Luxuries: An Exhibition of Small Works Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
161 Small Oils Exhibition Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
5th Annual Associate Member Online Exhibition American Impressionist Society
Season Opening Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, ME
Kate Kern Mundie: New Paintings F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Art of the Flower Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
2024
Paint Dover! The Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE
Summer Group Show F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
WANDERING: Observations of Our Watershed Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, Philadelphia, PA
Hints of Summer – Group Show The Station Gallery, Greenville, DE
101 Artists: The Art of Collecting Art – 164 Artists from the Fred Danziger Collection Baker Gallery, West Chester University
2023-2024
New Works: Winter Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2023
Uncertain Certainties Virtual Exhibition, Thrive Together Network
101 Artists: The Art of Collecting Art – 159 Artists from the Fred Danziger Collection Patricia M. Nugent Gallery, Rosemont College
2022
Rest: Paintings by Kate Kern Mundie F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Kate Kern Mundie: Recent Landscapes Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Gallery Artists: Summer Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Still Stay Home Gallery and Artist Residency, Paris, TN
2021–2022
Winter Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2021
Coming Home: Paintings by Kate Kern Mundie F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2019–2020
Winter Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2019
Summer Group Exhibition Station Gallery, Greenville, DE
2018
Urban View: Changing Landscapes House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017
Works by New and Current Gallery Artists F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015–2016
Another Look: Selected Prints from the Printmaking Department Archives Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Fresh Perspectives: Works by New and Current Gallery Artists F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014
114th Annual Fellowship Exhibition Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA
Elizabeth Bishop Artist in Residence Exhibition Great Village, Nova Scotia
2013
Kate Kern Mundie: Marker Frame Fatale, Philadelphia, PA
2012
Kate Kern Mundie: Recent Paintings F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2011
20th Annual USArtists American Fine Art Show Philadelphia, PA
Kate Kern Mundie: New Paintings F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010
19th Annual USArtists American Fine Art Show Philadelphia, PA
Kate Kern Mundie: Recent Paintings F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008
Kate Kern Mundie: Recent Paintings F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
17th Annual USArtists American Fine Art Show Philadelphia, PA
Dear Fleisher: 4 x 6 Inches of Art Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Inside/Outside: Kate Kern Mundie and James G. Mundie Station Gallery, Greenville, DE
Group Exhibition F.A.N Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2007
Kate Kern Mundie: Delaware Valley Landscapes Caramel, Philadelphia, PA
Group Exhibition Workerman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Drawing the Line Riverview Renaissance Art Center, Millville, NJ
Kate Kern Mundie: Seasonal Landscapes Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
New and Returning Artists Exhibition Station Gallery, Greenville, DE
2006
The Urban Landscape Workerman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Dear Fleisher: 4 x 6 Inches of Art Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
In the Neighborhood StrataSphere, Philadelphia, PA
As We See It: Paintings by Ed Bronstein & Kate Kern Mundie Cozen O’Connor, Philadelphia, PA
Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
2005
Living with Art Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
108th Annual Exhibition of the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Museum Staff Exhibition Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Land and Sea: Paintings by Kate Kern Mundie Ocean City Arts Center, Ocean City, NJ
Kate Kern Mundie: Landscapes Twenty Two Gallery Café, Philadelphia, PA
Flowers: A Group Exhibition Twenty Two Gallery Café, Philadelphia, PA
2004–2005
15 Exposures: 13th Annual USArtists American Fine Art Show Philadelphia, PA; Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ; Chester County Art Association, West Chester, PA
2004
Living with Art Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
The Familiar ADM Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
141st Annual Small Oil Paintings Exhibition The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
2003
Staff Originals: Works by the Visual Artists of the Fleisher Art Memorial DaVinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
2000–2006
Annual Faculty Exhibition Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
2000
Exclusively Landscape 11 East Ashland Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
1996
Emerging Artists Artforms Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Contact
Website: www.katekernmundie.com
Instagram: @mundieart