Kate Cleaves grew up on the coast of Portland, Maine, where she earned her BFA in painting at the Maine College of Art. Growing up in a circle of strong Native American woman teachers, she has become an advocate for the earth and all her creatures. Reclaiming ancient earth symbols and indigenous stories within her work is one of the ways she strives to honor the sacred and give it a visual place to reside. Her work touches on this constant amazement of this world that we are all a part of – and draws inspiration everywhere from the vast depths of space to the tiniest molecules on earth. She believes there is an infinite source of beauty and perfection all around us when we take the time to stop and look. The idea of chaos and order is also present, and the idea that underneath what often seems to be this complex jumble of everything, there is in fact a grand design – like an eternal rhythm, or dance.