About
Kat Crab (b.1965, Kingston, Canada) is a multidisciplinary artist who draws primarily with her non-dominant left hand and creates dream worlds presenting reflections on marginality as a site of resistance. This comes from a place of defiant perception that speaks to the invisible and unheard. An adoptee at birth, Crab continually searched for her roots until she found her birth parents when she was twenty five. Approaching sixty, she delves deeper beneath the neurodivergent social mask embracing the transformative Crone phase of her life. Current work includes drawings with the pen and ink nibs of her late birth grandfather, James Simpkins who was a renowned Canadian cartoonist. Through intuition and chance, Crab combines diverse elements using inks, gouache, collage and graphite guided by protective rituals. The work is dedicated to those who are searching for a home and a sense of belonging: the seers, artists, refugees, shapeshifters, and especially women and others who have had to hide their identity and their secrets often at risk of death.
Crab has spent the last twenty-five years living in rural locations between Southern California and Canada in homes hand built by her architect husband.
Her work has been written about in the LA Times, Zine World and Les Femmes Folles: Women in Art. Her works are included in the public collections of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, San Diego Public Library, and UCLA Arts Library. Group exhibition highlights include “Dark Matter” at Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland and “Making Zines=Making Herstory” at the Women’s Museum of California in San Diego, California.
Artist's CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Grace Mellman Library, Temecula, California
2022 Grace Mellman Library, Temecula, CA
2020 Grace Mellman Library, Temecula, CA
2019 Siler Gallery, Temecula, CA
2012 Sun City Library, Sun City, CA
2012 San Marcos Library, San Marcos, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Disability Pride Art Show, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
2024 Reading Room: Zines, Comix, and Other Radical Texts, Installed by Esther Pearl Watson, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
2024 Neuk Perspectives, Curated by Neuk Collective, WASPS Patriothall Gallery, Patriothall, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2024 Alchemy of Art, Dorland Arts Colony, Temecula, CA
2023 Synaesthesia, Summerhall Gallery, Curated by Leo R. Hajducki, Edinburgh, Scotland
2023 RE:MEMBER, Modern Fuel Gallery, Kingston, Canada
2023 Mighty Mini Exhibit & Fundraiser, Merc Gallery, Temecula, CA
2021 Artistic License, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA
2021 San Diego Festival of the Arts
2020 Respiration:Restoration, Makara Center for the Arts, Santa Ana, CA
2020 Wish You Were Here, Marianne van Silfhout Gallery, St Lawrence College, Brockville, Canada (virtual)
2020 Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Temecula, CA (virtual)
2020 Electricity, Hey Grrrl Collective, Temecula, CA
2019 Small Works, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Temecula, CA
2019 Outdoor Inspiration, Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, CA
2019 Les Femmes Folles BARED, Ground Floor Gallery + Studios, Nashville, TN
2016 The 52 Project, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2016 Carioca Soul, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2015 Drought, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2015 American Visions Gallery, St. Louis, MI
2013 Animal Fairy Tales, Fables, Fact Or Fiction, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2013 Small But Mighty Prints, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2012 PAAR, Brandstater Gallery, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA,
2012 Members Exhibit, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2012 Art and Earth: My Art, My World, Murrieta Public Library, Murrieta, CA
2012 The Art of the Avocado, Brandon Gallery, Fallbrook, CA
2012 Verse to Image, Riverside Community Arts Association Gallery, Riverside, CA
2012 Your Face Here: The Modern Self Portrait, San Jacinto Art Gallery, San Jacinto College, CA
2012 Riverside Arts Council Exhibit, Riverside, CA
2012 Print II, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2011 PNET Members’ Print Show, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2011 Artscape, Riverside County Center, Riverside, CA
2006 Making Zines=Making Herstory, Women’s Museum of California, San Diego, CA
2005 San Clemente Public Library, San Clemente, CA
2004 Art of Zines, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
2004 Dark Matter, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
2003 Zine Scene, Orange County Museum of Art Satellite, Costa Mesa, CA
2003 Jojo Pinkie Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
Selected Press/Reviews
“Shoutout SoCal Local Stories,” February, 2021.
“San Diego Arts & Culture Weekly Review,” July 2018.
“Les Femmes Folles,” Women in Art, July 5, 2016.
“Artist Spotlight,” Press-Enterprise, May 8, 2012.
St Lawrence College Voyageur Magazine, Spring 2009.
Valley News, February 23, 2007
“Zine Reviews,” Zine World, Issue 23, July 2006.
“Local, Townspeople: Over Java, Temecula’s Literati Meet for Inspiration,” Press-Enterprise, April 18, 2006
“Pop Music Review,” Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2003.
“In the Spotlight,” Art Venues Magazine, 1997.
Collections
Baltimore Museum of Art Archives, Baltimore, MD
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Che Café Collective Zine Library, La Jolla, CA
Columbia Teacher’s College Zine Library, New York, NY
Edinburgh Zine Library, Scotland, UK, Book of Khelon
Olympia Zine Library, Olympia, WA
Pacific Northwest College of Art Library, Portland, OR
San Diego Public Library, Collections, San Diego, CA
San Diego State University Special Collections Library, San Diego, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, Anno Domini Art of Zines Library, San Jose, CA
Sheridan Zine Library, Welland, ON, Canada
Solidarity! Revolutionary Center and Radical Library, Lawrence, KS
UCLA Arts Library, Los Angeles, CA
100 Sided Die Library, Montreal’s Mile End, Montréal, QC, Canada
Selected Publications as Artist/Illustrator
Sage Woman Magazine, 2016-present.
Witches & Pagans Magazine, 2016-present.
Creative Cronies New Zealand Moon Calendar & Diary, 2015-present.
Jellybucket Magazine, Issue #14, Neurodivergent Issue, 2024.
CURIOUS Magazine, Empathy + Sexuality, 2023.
Room Magazine Ancestor Issue, Spring 2022.
Outsider Art Magazine, 2020.
Les Femmes Folles: The Women, 2017.
Garland of the Goddess: Tales and Poems of the Divine Feminine, 2016.
Bared Anthology: Contemporary Poetry and Art on Bras and Breasts, 2016.
Faeries and Angels Magazine, 2014.
We’Moon Journal and Datebook, 1993, 1995, 2005, 2008, 2014.
Kiss Machine, 2007, 2006, 2005.
Broken Pencil Magazine, 2006.
Art Business News, 2003.
Selected Publications as Author
2023-Present Divination Deck Reviewer, Witches & Pagans Magazine, Sage Woman Magazine.
2018-2023 Blog Columnist, PaganSquare,
2023 Poetry, Unfamiliars Zine, UK.
2022 Fairy Herbal Oracle Columnist, Magickal Women UK.
2021 Oracle Deck Columnist, Cartomancer Magazine, A Metaphysical Journal for Diviners.
2020 Mediumship & Past Lives Columnist, Witch With Me.
2019 Writer, Tarot Avenue.
2007-08 Poetry, San Diego Poetry Annual.
Self Published
2008 – Present Divination Decks: Siren Song Tarot, Elfin Ally Deck & Guidebook, Lefty Deck & Guidebook, Fairy Herbal Deck, Cat Herbal Deck, Zodiac Goddess Power Deck & Guidebook.
2023 Book of Khelon.
2017 Odds & Ends A Collection of Friends.
2017 Moon Musings Volume 1.
2001 Barely A Taste Chapbook by Tangerine Bolen (illustrations).
2000-2008 Zines and Chapbooks: Mugwort, Gadfly, Ground, Songs of the Lefties.
1997 The Zodiac Goddess Playbook.
Professional Experience
2023 California Arts Council Grant Review Panelist.
2010-2020 Workshop Leader, Mt. San Jacinto College.
2016 Art Instructor, Inspire San Diego Studio.
2010-Present Online Course Instructor, Wise Woman School.
2006 Speaker, North County Author’s and Poets Book Fair, Escondido, California.
2003 Artist Speaker, Michelle Shocked, Campfire Series, International Women’s Day Show, “Civil Liberties Are Like Marshmallows” in collaboration with the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Los Angeles, CA.
2001 Artist Instructor, Your New House, HGTV.
1995-2001 Silk Painting Instructor, Sawdust Art Festival, Laguna Beach, CA.
1992-2000 Assistant Art Instructor and Private Instructor, Laguna Outreach Community Artists (LOCA), Laguna Beach, CA.
Founder/Facilitator
Temecula Artist’s Circle with Marie Perrin-McGraw.
Temecula Writer’s Cafe.
Temecula Artist’s Salon.
Temecula Mixer for the Arts with Melody De Los Cabos.
Printmaker’s Network, Riverside Art Museum, CA.
Professional Memberships
2024 Neurokind Collective,
2023-Present Dorland Arts Colony, Temecula, CA
Temecula Valley Writers &
Illustrators Group.
Artist Member, Modern Fuel Artist Run Centre, Kingston, Canada.
Artist Member, Union Gallery, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.
Gananoque Arts Network, Gananoque, Canada.
Neurodivergent UK Magical Women’s Collective.
Pre-2023 Temecula Valley Art League, Printmaker’s Network, Riverside Art Museum.
Education
1992 Diploma, Graphic Design, St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Canada.
1988 BA Art History, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.
Mentorships
2005-14 Printmaking, letterpress, book arts, encaustic studies: Leslie A. Brown, Dixon Fish, Igor Koutsenko, Victoria Rabinowe, Sibyl Rubottom, Helen Shafer Garcia, Christina Li, Amber George, Kindra Crick.