Kimberly Joy Trathen

RESIDENCY: MARCH 23 - MAY 2, 2026
EXHIBIT: MAY 2 - JULY 12, 2026

Based in Thomas, West Virginia, Kimberly Joy Trathen is a visual artist working primarily in textile and fiber mediums. Her practice explores healing, loss, grief, repair, and restoration, transforming reclaimed and ethically sourced materials into deeply layered works that speak to growth and renewal. Through reclaimed leather compositions, abstract drawings, intricate thread installations, and functional design objects, her work highlights the beauty found in reuse and the power of transformation through color, texture, and form.

Trathen holds a BFA in Music from Michigan State University and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Her interdisciplinary background informs a practice rooted in care, community, and global perspective. She is co-founder of Gradient Projects and Studio Holler in Thomas, WV, and co-manages the artist-run gallery Invisible.

Experience work that invites reflection, restoration, and the possibility of becoming something new.

This residency and exhibition is presented with support from the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, in Memory of Caroline Prewitt Jennings, Daywood Foundation, The Elliot Family Foundation, Herscher Foundation, Inc., Bernard H. & Blanche E. Jacobson Foundation. The Clay Center’s performing and visual arts offerings are presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.