Kathy Sarns is a great artist and produces great art. She is my cousin and is a very interesting person. She lives in the rocky mountains of Anchorage, Alaska. An odd and interesting fact about her is she has been known to howl at the moon.

Living in Alaska affects her life and art in many different ways. She loves the wilderness and wild animals. All of her work is of a landscape or animals. Her work expresses how she feels in dreams or everyday life. She wants to express to the public that animals need to be treated with the respect. Her fellows Alaskans have called her work "Alaskan Art with a spiritual twist".

Alaska is very interesting and different from the mainland states. It is one of the largest states in the United States but has the second to least for population of about 600,000. Alaska has a wide range of temperatures as it can get as cold as negative eighty degrees Fahrenheit to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There are a lot of animals making a habitat in Alaska. To name a few, there are moose, bear, eagle, seals and deer.

Kathy has a very interesting history. She was born in Lansing, Michigan and lived in Michigan until she was four years old. She then moved to Maine where she lived near the Atlantic Ocean. She played in the woods and in the ocean. She never became lonely because the wild became her friend. In sixth grade, Kathy came in second in a running race of about eighty children. After that she was encouraged to do other sports. Aside from the athletic side of her, she always took art classes and had an artist¹s touch. When she was 19 years old, she joined the University of Maine¹s Nordic Ski Team. At first she did not know how to ski, but she learned quickly. She came in last for a while, but soon she got better, more experienced and made many friends. Kathy finished her last six months of college in Europe. Her early life happened in many different places. Kathy now lives in Anchorage, Alaska.

When she was twenty-two, she moved to Alaska planning to live thee for only a summer. Instead, Kathy has lived there ever since which has been for twenty years. She has just recently got married to Pat Irwin in August 2001. Her family now consists of Pat, Kathy and their two Alaskan sled dogs Telly and Wylie.

Kathy's art comes from her experiences, which she has had many of. Her emotions express her art also. Sadly, an avalanche stole her first husband. An example of her sadness is in the print ³Reflection.² She also makes her prints from her physical and emotional experiences. Kathy has rescued and raised dogs and wolves for about 10 years.

The print Ying and Yang show these emotions.	Kathy has had many physical experiences in the wild. She skis frequently at many different and beautiful places that you can see in the print "Learning Curve".
Kathy often sees ravens in the wind and can almost touch them. You see this in the print "Dancing Ravens."	Many bears, moose and other animals, as shown by "Misty Morning" have also observed her.
Last is that she has these experiences to learn more and to live life to its fullest extent. Kathy expresses this in the prints. "Trust".	Flower Bed False Summit

Her original experiences create original art. Kathy does a kind of art called "Intaglio". It is a very old process that started in about the fifteenth century. Intaglio is the process of engraving on the metals copper or zinc. There are many steps in the procedure of making this kind of art. First, grounds are put on the plate. Grounds resist the acid on the plate so the acid doesn't burn the plate. Secondly, gray tones are applied with scrappers and aquatints. Aquatints are created by using an airbrush using an airbrush or melted rosin powder. Thirdly, the plate is engraved with scrapers to create pictures and designs. Next, ink is applied onto the plate and wiped off leaving the ink in the depressions. Next, a damp piece of print paper is layered onto the plate. The paper and plate are hand rolled and a ton of pressure is applied while it passes through rollers. Then the paper and the plate are separated and the paper dries for two to three days. Lastly Kathy signs the prints as an artist's proof. This hard work pays off in great art.

Kathy has achieved many great things along her life. She had the courage to quit a good job and start her own art studio and has made a name for herself. She has completed three races that were about 200 miles each and she was the first woman to complete. To add to the hard task, there were no trails to follow. Kathy has been a Junior Nordic Coach for about 18 years and was also awarded the "Coach of the Year" award. She won the design for "Best license plate in Alaska".

Her art is created for the heart and soul. She also has a goal to expand on art and become better known. Another achievement Kathy has is to influence me to do more art. She is a great person to look up to.