Plus, why she encourages students to shop second-hand
By Kylie Frain
Professor Kate Clair is an Art and Design professor at KU with a focus on graphic design. While the art world is now a major influence in Clair’s life, it wasn’t what she originally planned.
Photo Credit: Kylie Frain
In her senior year of high school, Clair was on the path toward becoming a physician. As she was applying for various colleges, her appendix ruptured at the age of 18. After not being taken seriously by her doctors, she knew she would never be able to spend the rest of her life in that type of environment. “I got such bad medical care that it changed the course of my life,” she said.
Clair earned her BFA in sculpture with a printmaking and theater minor from Elmira College in New York State. She continued on the path of art at SUNY Binghamton where she completed her M.A. in art history. The university gave her a full scholarship for her to obtain her Ph.D. in Art History there, but she couldn’t picture herself “standing in front of a screen with a clicker.” She went on to earn her MFA in Art and Design from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University.
During her time in higher education, she was deeply inspired by her trailblazing women professors. Clair uses the inspiration she received from them in her classes to inspire her students to see the world from a new perspective. She said, “It’s helpful for students to get to know a professor on a personal basis and to see themselves in that professor.”
Clair wants her students to see the importance of having sustainable habits. “I’m a big believer in recycling and reusing, and encouraging students to do so,” she said. She hopes to motivate her students to take a stand for sustainability by composting, shopping second-hand, and utilizing the Free Shelf in Sharadin where “everything is free for the putting and free for the taking.”
“Literally, everything in my house is second-hand,” she said. “I have picked up most of my furniture off the side of the road and refinished, recovered, resanded, cleaned and redone it.”
She believes that nothing “needs to be made on this planet ever again” and that humanity needs to change its mentality towards reducing and reusing the raw materials that have already been taken from the Earth.
“Whatever your grandmother is willing to give you, whatever your mother or father or in-laws or friends’ parents or somebody down the street has out on the street, just take it because we have to reduce and reuse,” said Clair.
Clair spends her free time refurbishing furniture, making hand-made toys for the Kutztown Folk Festival, and hanging out with her daughter, Sacha.