Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Kathy Liao

Kathy Liao

Kansas City, Missouri

In the foreground, “Suitcase” is a white plaster person with a handle on their back, leaning forward to open a white suitcase on a plinth. In the background is “In Between the Lines”, a large painting with a group of figures sitting and huddled together at the bottom right corner, and beyond them a labyrinth of line stanchions. Above the scene are undulating swirls and airplane wings.

In Between the Lines / Suitcase

2023

“流流年年 liú nián” is a brightly colored painting on 6 abutting square panels of a central figure walking away in a subway station. Rendered in a highly saturated palette of pinks, greens, blues, and yellows, transparent details are overlaid and abstracted creating an energetic and indefinite environment.

流流年年 < liú nián >

2021

“Neon Lights Lullaby” depicts a person with white hair, brocade jacket, blue skirt and bare legs in blue clogs facing out the window in an elevated seat of a bus, just behind the middle door exit. Out the window are neon lights in Chinese and English letters, with layers of transparency and fields of color, rendered in highly saturated palette of blues, greens and yellows. The painting is composed on various papers tiled together to create an almost square shape with irregular edges.

Neon Lights Lullaby

2020

“Without” depicts three figures lying asleep in bed - an older person on the left, then a younger woman in the middle, and an indirect figure on the end. Heads on pillows, they lay on top of tangles of blankets. The composition is largely in black and white, except for the middle figure who has a red shirt, brown panda and peach skin. The color on her seems to bleed onto the blanket of the older person nestled against her.

Without

2018

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Kathy Liao

A portrait of Kathy Liao with her hands resting on her lap as she faces the camera. She is a Taiwanese-American woman with dark hair pulled back, and wears a striped tank top with a bright multicolor pleated skirt.
Photo by Molly Stinchfield

Kathy Liao sees herself as a connector and bridge builder. Her practice exists in multitudes: as a visual artist, educator, arts administrator, advocate, organizer, citizen, and member of her community. Since moving to the Midwest eight years ago, Liao found belonging through facilitating and organizing spaces towards a more inclusive and equitable arts and culture ecosystem for creatives to thrive. As a Taiwanese American artist, Liao looks for patterns and repetitions that weave through the immigrant families’ experience in her mixed-media work. She is a recipient of various awards, including the 2022 21c KC Artadia Award, 2020 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award, and a public art commission for the new Kansas City International Airport. As a mentor and educator, Liao has lectured and presented at multiple institutions and conferences across the country. Formerly, Liao was Director of the Painting and Printmaking department at Missouri Western State University. She was nominated “Most Influential Professor” in 2019. Currently, she advocates for holistic support for artists’ livelihood in her role as the Access and Inclusion Program Officer at Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2023

Website / Social Links

“ There are familiar rituals performed by many immigrant families, navigating the transient spaces of the in-between. My paintings and installations are populated by people en route, often migrants physically inhabiting transitional spaces such as airports, bus depots, and train stations. In my recent work, I am cognizant of the potential hazards of these gaps—separation, loss, marginalization; yet, I lean into the boundless depths of human conditions within these spaces.”

Related Journal Entries

Kathy Liao sits in the foreground of an industrial artist’s studio space, with artworks and tools visible on the walls behind her. She is a Taiwanese-American woman with dark hair. She wears a striped blue-and-white top and a red skirt with a speckled pattern. Her arms rest on the back of the chair and in front of her chest, and she smiles at the camera.

In the Studio: Kathy Liao

"My studio practice is in some ways like a diary. I’m constantly drawing from ex...