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Hi, I’m Kathryn Melissa (MISSY) Simnacher born and raised in Texas. I met my husband, Gerald there at Texas Tech, and joined him for a 27-year adventure in the USAF. My introduction to painting was a decorative painting class in Bitburg, Germany during the 80’s. I’ve always loved folk art, attracted to things with a rustic handmade quality. That ember, nurtured by travels into the Byzantine icon countries of Eastern Europe caught flame. Then in 1996, anticipating the move back to Albuquerque from Washington, DC; the lure of religious art drew me from ‘country’ images to the primitive Retablos (pictures of saints) of the Southwest and the Icon. The ancient illuminated manuscript, The Book of Kells, bridged folk art and the Icon for me and held my fascination in its intricate detail, iconic qualities, whimsy, and primitive nature; all of which appealed and spoke to my Irish roots. I’ve honed my technique taking Icon classes from various Iconographers at Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos Benedictine Monastery in Pecos, New Mexico and classic Icon writing classes with an iconographer friend in Santa Fe. Right now, I enjoy working in egg tempera which marvels me at the visual depth that medium offers. Whether painting traditional New Mexican retablos, decorated crosses, decorating wood furniture, “writing” Icons, or even creating mosaic pieces, I just enjoy the creative process and it is always interesting the way things turn out.

We have lived in Albuquerque for 23 years since leaving DC. Recently becoming an RV couple, we look forward to nomadic rambling across the northern hemisphere including frequent visits with our daughters’ and families in eastern New Mexico and the California bay area. Our international travel bucket list is still extensive but getting whittled down every other year or so.

Gerald produces fine woodworking projects, cuts and prepares blanks for my paintings, and makes interesting frames for much of my art. I hike with two women’s hiking groups and we support the University of New Mexico Lady Lobos basketball team. Refined by many USAF moves, I enjoy interior decorating with a personal specialty in color and design—a much employed skill that gets me pulled into visualizing new plans with friends and neighbors. Over fifteen years, I led the Aquinas Newman Center environment committee into a robust, dynamic, and diverse combination of people, using their varied artistic talents to keep the church and its gathering spaces vibrant and liturgically appropriate. Overall, I am very blessed to use my gifts this way and I am humbled by the responses when my images inspire.

Kathryn Simnacher

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