Skip to main contentBiography Kathryn Mapes Turner's artwork unfolds from the mountain valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she was born the fourth generation to grow up on the Triangle X Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. Here, her consciousness of the natural world took root. She rode the valley's trails, learned its wilderness lore, and developed an eye for landscape that has come to define her life's work. The convergence of a receptive spirit and a place of extraordinary beauty set her course early.
Turner began studying art in her teens with noted local painters. She then left Wyoming for the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Studio Arts and spent a formative semester in Rome. She went on to study at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and later earned a Master's degree from the University of Virginia.
Turner has built a nationally recognized career. She has earned top honors from the American Impressionist Society and the National Academy of Equine Art, and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition named her its 2017 Featured Artist. Her work has appeared in the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the C.M. Russell Museum, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Phippen Museum, the Brinton Museum, and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. In 2001, The Wyoming Watercolor Society named Turner Wyoming's Best Watercolor Artist, and the following year Southwest Art Magazine featured her in its "Annual Profile of Young Artists with Promising Careers."
Turner credits her upbringing in Grand Teton National Park—a place of dramatic light and natural composition—with giving her an intimate appreciation for art. "I believe the valley of Jackson Hole evokes expression," she says. Though she now travels the world to paint, that formative landscape remains at the center of her practice. Working in watercolor and oil, Turner offers visual contemplations of beauty, sharing her love of the sublime with all who encounter her work.
Kathryn Mapes Turner
United States, born 1971
Turner began studying art in her teens with noted local painters. She then left Wyoming for the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Studio Arts and spent a formative semester in Rome. She went on to study at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and later earned a Master's degree from the University of Virginia.
Turner has built a nationally recognized career. She has earned top honors from the American Impressionist Society and the National Academy of Equine Art, and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition named her its 2017 Featured Artist. Her work has appeared in the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the C.M. Russell Museum, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Phippen Museum, the Brinton Museum, and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. In 2001, The Wyoming Watercolor Society named Turner Wyoming's Best Watercolor Artist, and the following year Southwest Art Magazine featured her in its "Annual Profile of Young Artists with Promising Careers."
Turner credits her upbringing in Grand Teton National Park—a place of dramatic light and natural composition—with giving her an intimate appreciation for art. "I believe the valley of Jackson Hole evokes expression," she says. Though she now travels the world to paint, that formative landscape remains at the center of her practice. Working in watercolor and oil, Turner offers visual contemplations of beauty, sharing her love of the sublime with all who encounter her work.
Person TypeIndividual
United States, 1865 - 1937
United States, 1876 - 1973