Katie Pumphrey shares how her rituals contribute to her practice as an artist and ultra-marathon swimmer
About the speaker
Katie Pumphrey (b.1987) is an American interdisciplinary artist and ultramarathon open water swimmer. Her paintings, sculptures, and installations use abstraction and imagery to explore the tensions and the connectedness between human instincts and play. She has a Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her works have been exhibited in galleries across the United States, including solo exhibitions in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Key West, and she has attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Studios of Key West, Gallery Four, and the Creative Alliance.
On June 25th, 2024, Katie Pumphrey became the first person to complete the Bay to Baltimore swim, a 24 mile swim from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Other notable swims include the English Channel (2015, 2022), around the island of Manhattan (2017), and the Catalina Channel (2018, 2024)— those three swims make up the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Pumphrey was the 194th person (73rd woman) in the world to achieve that honor. Her work is deeply connected to this aspect of her life, and her experiences in the water greatly influence and drive her work. Pumphrey lives and works in Baltimore, MD.
Photo by Schaun Champion
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