Kate Donelson

Kate Donelson	Photo By:Jymi Bolden

Artist Proves Her Metal

INTERVIEW BY STACEY RECHT
Metal charmer Kate Donelson created this year’s Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.
These mini-monuments to music and the arts are 18-inch, four-sided obelisks —
or “elongated, pyramid-shaped, steel monoliths,” Donelson says, crafted to inspire
and appeal, “something that looks substantial.”

Each piece is unique, handcrafted in her Northside studio.
“I made each award individually,” Donelson says. “They’re all the same shape,
but they’re not from a mold.”

She worked on the pieces intermittently for one month. “They were fabricated in stages.
I’d weld five in a day. The next day I might weld 10, then the next day I might grind a few
and clean them up. I didn’t start and say, ‘OK, I’m now going to do 28 of these from start
to finish.’ ”

Donelson, a native of Cleveland, has lived in Cincinnati for 12 years. She studied metalwork
and blacksmithing at UC’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning and later worked
in foundries and metal shops.

Three years ago, Donelson established her own business, Solid Ground Studios in
Northside, where she lives. She chose the community for its artistic verve, noting,
“I truly like to do things in my neighborhood. I think it’s a good community for artists
and quirky people.”

Most of her custom metalwork — gates, railings, furniture, decorative ironwork —
is in Northside homes. “I want to go for contemporary, interesting designs.
I’m not somebody you would go to if you want 75 feet of picket fence,” she says.

Cincinnati has a really interesting art scene, she says.

“It seems to be a very vibrant community for as conservative as the city is,” Donelson
says. “I really love what I do. I’m very happy to be able to be doing the work that I’m
doing on my own and that there’s a market for it in Cincinnati continues to impress me.” ©

WEBSITE - http://www.solidgroundstudio.com/