Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Workhouse Artist Kathy Strauss

Movement, color, life - Workhouse Arts Center artist Kathy Strauss was always a good photographer, but the world had to wait decades for her to take her best photos. After a 30-year career in graphic design, marketing and teaching, she finally has the chance to focus on taking photos. 

"The camera is an extension of me," Strauss recently told Patch. "It's how I see the world and I want people to know how I see the world. People live too much in their left brains. If I can show a right brain person's view of the world to show that through simple observations, there's beauty all over in the side of a building, in a blade of grass, in a wedding and in the sparkling eyes of the bride and groom."  

Strauss grew up in West Hartford, Conn., to a homemaker mother and forensics engineer father with a passion for photography. In fact, Mervin Strauss kept a dark room in his house, and the family encouraged Strauss and her brother to indulge in the arts. She was a photography hobbyist in college, and received her degree in advertising design from the University of Maryland in 1978. The couple live in Lake Ridge, and Strauss has a daughter from a previous marriage. 

Strauss' career took over, and the next 30 years were spent as a graphic designer for SAIC, the World Bank and USAID. In 2007, she joined her husband, artist G.C. Schow at their marketing/photography business Imagewerks. She joined the Workhouse community the following year. She is now an associate artist, and her work can be seen in buildings 9 and 16. She also teaches a nine-week course on creativity at the Workhouse.  

"The Workhouse has really been a place for me to explore and do more with my photography and teaching. I love teaching. I love that lightbulb moment when I see kids or adults and their eyes light up. I know that I get to them," Strauss said. "I love color and I always look at what makes the scene spark… I want you to look at my photographs and see that they tell a story." 

Strauss takes mostly landscape and architecture photos. She is most influenced by nature photographer Ansel Adams, magazine legend Annie Leibowitz and American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady.