{"id":15184,"date":"2026-10-06T18:24:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/?p=15184"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:24:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T22:24:50","slug":"kathleen-m-odonnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/kathleen-m-odonnell","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen M. O\u2019Donnell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
And a hard place<\/em>
10″x7.5″; book, magazine, calendar pages; 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kathleen M. O\u2019Donnell
Washington, DC, USA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

STATEMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My collage art is driven by a desire to create a sense of curiosity and wonder for people who engage with it. As a longtime professional in the architecture industry, I have become familiar with building materials, fixtures, and design approaches that I often use as a springboard for my work. Because I have long held a professional identity as a design storyteller, I craft my collages with a story or message that is clear to me, yet open to interpretation for observers. Themes that have guided recent work include housing and social justice, land rights, and engagement with religion and culture. I use paper materials sourced from books, magazines, maps, calendars, and postcards, typically found at craft re-use stores, vintage sales, and thrift shops. When beginning a project, I sift through hundreds of pages of materials and choose one or two elements that speak to me in the moment, then build an approach around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BIO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathleen M. O\u2019Donnell is an architecture and design writer and multidisciplinary artist based in Washington, D.C. She has dedicated her professional career to telling stories about architecture, designers, and the impact of the built environment on people\u2019s lives. As an artist, she is passionate about exploring how space, objects, and people interact with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, O\u2019Donnell became deeply interested in the mining industry and how the area\u2019s natural resources influenced the industrial revolution and urban expansion. She remains fascinated by the pairing of natural wonders, 19th-century architecture, and 20th-century post-industrial decay in her home region. As an architecture and social sciences student in New York City, she developed an identity as an urbanist and progressive, which guides her ideology as a design writer and artist. Today, as a proud resident of Washington, D.C., she is fascinated by the influence of government and activism in shaping public space and civic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Donnell\u2019s writing has been published in numerous architecture and design industry publications. In her practice as a collage artist, she seeks to fuse elements of the built environment and human conditions with a sense of wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ARTIST CONTACT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMAIL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMAGES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Keeping faith<\/em>
9.75″x9.5″; book, magazine, calendar pages; 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
America Lives\/American Lives<\/em><\/em>
11″x7.5″; book and magazine pages; 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Second date<\/em>
7.75″x8.25″; book, magazine, calendar pages; 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fallingwater Spine<\/em>
14″x11″; original photography prints, archival book copy prints, magazine pages, mulberry paper; 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, DC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[218],"class_list":["post-15184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-states","tag-october-2027"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Kathleen-M-ODonnell-And-a-hard-place-Web.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BNTD-3WU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15223,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15184\/revisions\/15223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/artistdirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}