Traverse City artist Katherine Corden’s paintings are admired for their beach-inspired scenes. Her love for creating started young, but it wasn’t a path she thought she could follow. “I loved art,” she says, “but I graduated high school during the recession, and out of a need for security and stability, I decided to study physical therapy.”
While pursuing her career in Chicago, Corden, who grew up in metro Detroit, began dabbling in art during her off days. She enrolled in figurative drawing classes, posted her work online, and discovered a community that encouraged her creative journey. In 2019, she and her husband moved to Traverse City. The move propelled her to work more on her art while slowly cutting back on physical therapy until, as she says, “I was just doing all art.”
“It’s not representing a specific moment, but encapsulating
the feeling of the whole day.”
— Katherine Corden
Today, Corden paints while balancing life as a busy mom of three. Her work is reflective of her northern Michigan location and of time spent with family and friends near the water. Her favorite beach to paint? The Frankfort Public Beach, near where her grandparents once lived.
While Corden brings along a sketchbook on beach days, it’s often easier for her to take “dozens of pictures,” then bring them to her studio at the Tru Fit Trouser building. “It’s like a puzzle,” she explains. “It’s not representing a specific moment, but encapsulating the feeling of the whole day.”
In 2023, the Traverse City Arts Commission selected Corden to create a permanent mural in Bryant Park, a place she often visits with her children. Corden invited locals to join her there, and she photographed them for hours. She drew on those images to create the mural. “The (models) get to live on that wall and they know it’s inspired by them.”
Fascinated with color theory and light play, her work often depicts bold shapes and a social interaction element. She typically paints using acrylics, but she’s been experimenting with oils, too. “I really love the vibrancy of the oil paint and the ease of manipulation,” she says.
Currently, she’s creating two large pieces featuring the historic Glen Haven Canning Co. building. “You get these layers of color where you have this goldenrod dune grass with the ultramarine lake, a viridian strip of one of the Manitou Islands with the sky in the background, and then this giant square of red bringing you forward — I just think it’s so interesting.”
When asked why she creates art, Corden states: “It’s something that was inevitable for me. Even if I wasn’t doing it as my job, it would be something I would have to do for my soul.” 
