Kathy grew up in the rolling farmlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Her early life in the country provided Kathy with daily opportunities to live with, study and grow passionate about nature. During her 28-year career as a professional counselor working throughout West Virginia, and more recently in her world travels, she added to her keen interests, people.

Kathy was immersed in her work as a counselor devoting her skills to people in all walks of life from 1975 forward. By 1991, her desire to paint grew overwhelming and she began her formal training, working first in pastels. However, her counseling business also flourished, to the degree that in 1999, she was awarded West Virginia Professional Woman of the Year by the West Virginia Women’s Commission. Since changing careers from counseling to art, she has had the good fortune to study with a range of excellent artists, including Barbara Albin, Liz Hutchinson, Daniel Green, Michael Davis, Dana Aldis, and Charles Peck. Remaining active in her studies, Kathy attended Art Study with Gale Bennett in Giverny, France in the spring of 2004. October 2005, Kathy took life drawing with Nancee Clark at Wildacres Resort in the mountains of North Carolina through Ringling School of Art and in February 2006 particpated in portrait and figure painting with Gale Bennett in Punta Gorda, FL.

As an artist now living and working in Shepherdstown, WV, Kathy has poured her passions into painting. She uses a limited pallet of pure acrylic paint to render her award winning and colorful impressionistic images in her energetic fashion. Presently, Kathy is developing an array of pieces from her visit to Brasil, both rain forest scenes and colorful compositions inspired by the Brasilian native people; and is always in the process of enhancing her very popular carrousel series.

For recreation, Kathy & her husband, Bob Masson, writer and adjunct professor with Shepherd University, sail the Chesapeake Bay and are avid bicyclers. Kathy is a commmitee member on the Charlotte County Arts & Humanities Council, as well as a member of the Arts and Humanities Alliance of Jefferson County, The Shenandoah Arts Council,The Southwest Florida Pastel Society, The Charlotte County Visual Arts Center, and a professional member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC.

Shows:
• Solo show at Bank of America, Port Charlotte, FL November and December 2004
• Displayed show’s signature image “Charley: Through the Eyes of the Artist” January-February 2005, Cultural Center of Charlotte County, FL
• Art Show & Sale with Sea Grape Artists at the Boca Grande “ Day of Art” on Gasparilla Island January 2005
• Show at Stone Soup Bistro, Shepherdstown, WV, Spring 2006
• J. Cooper Gallery, July-September 2006, Shepherdstown, WV
• Independent Artists' Guild, Winchester, VA, November-December 2006

• White Water Lilies won a Judges’ Choice Award at the PhotoExpo in January 2004 Charlotte County Art Guild
• Go for the Brass Ring, Second Prize in the “Spring Fling” exhibit at the Charlotte County Art Guild, March 2004
• Artist of the Month, November 2004 by the Arts & Humanities Council of Charlotte County, by proclamation of the County Commission
Commissions:
• “Charley” was painted on consignment by the Arts & Humanities Council of Charlotte County Board of Directors for the post hurricane art show
• “Charley: Through the Eyes of the Artist” published November & December 2004. Directed DVD documentary of show
• Kathy is working with the architect in Manaus, Brasil on a mural project for a new hotel now nearing stages of completion
• A commission for artwork to visually enhance an inspirational book for young people is in early developmental stages.
• Commission for a tryp-tik for an addition to the Carrousel Series.
• Kathy was juried into Sea Grape Artist’s Gallery and coop in Punta Gorda, FL in August 2004.