| Monica
Kettenhofen was born in Independence, Missouri in 1978. At age three, she moved
with her mother to Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. She spent
two years in public school on the Gold Coast, before she faced another
move further inland. She lived for nearly three years at Koonjewarre
(Aborigine for "campground in the clouds), a religious establishment
operated by her mother and step-father up in Springbrook Plateau in the
Gold Coast Hinterland. Monica learned much about childhood
survival in this new home - she lived in a small, tin roof shack on the
grounds, having to travel an hour down the mountain to a tiny school house. Her neighbors on the left were cattle ranchers, and to
the right was a small farm. Instead of television, Monica spent her
evenings helping her mother clean various wild life out of the cabins of
the campgrounds, avoiding poisonous snakes while at play with her sister,
and trying to ride around on her pet goat Fred. During this time,
she picked up drawing for the first time - sketching all those things
around her. |
Monica Kettenhofen |
| She was eight when
she moved from the mountain rainforest of Australia back to the home of
her birth in Missouri, USA. Upon returning to the U.S., she completed her public
schooling at Lee's Summit, adjusting back into life as an American girl.
All this time her passion for art grew, and she knew that she wanted to
devote her life to creating all of her thoughts onto canvas. |
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A small look into Monica's Studio. The skeleton is named Edgar; he is used for life drawing and to scare children on Halloween. |
At seventeen, she left home to
move to Warrensburg, the home of Central Missouri State University, now
known as the University of Central Missouri.
It was here she saw just how far one can take art and all of the different
areas under that one title of expression. For the first two years,
she divided her time equally between art and her other loves -
photography, writing, and speech & debate. But the last few years
she was there, she blossomed as a painter, falling in love with the beauty
of the process, and the ability to put her feelings and thoughts on a
visible medium for all to see. This is the way she found her
greatest ability for expression, and has been using it ever since. |
| Graduating from
CMSU with her BFA in studio art (2001) hasn't slowed her down much.
Though now she must devote additional time to a career outside of
turpentine and paintbrushes (those bills!)
she is still burning up canvas when she can, and coming up with new ideas
to further express herself. |
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