Billie Kay Gross / Studio Jardin

About the Artist

Growing up in Dubois, Wyoming, Billie Kay says she was "very lucky at an early age to have Mary Back as my art teacher. (She) followed her footsteps and, along with other career paths, earned her Bachelors in Education degree, and taught art in Wyoming's public schools. Her work media varies from glass, leather and watercolor, to oil, clay and ink, as well as explorations into multi-media 3-D work. Her Masters in the Fine Arts degree project was a short story which she printed onto handmade paper and bound with real, tanned buckskin. Her original script, "The Wishing Well," was performed as live onstage theatre at the University of Wyoming Theatre Department, in conjunction with her MFA show in 1988. Most people in Laramie know Billie Kay from her career in the UW Theatre and Dance Department's costume shop, as shop supervisor, designing a variety of creations for the stage, something she still does collaboratively from time to time.

Billie Kay says, "The wide-open experience of Wyoming, a piece of weathered wood or discarded leather, these are my inspiration. Repurposing, distressing, or dying are a few of the possibilities for masks or for my 'Glove People'." These original and intriguing soft-sculptures are inspired by petroglyphs of Native American human and animal figures, employing hair of natural animal fibres, feathers, beads, buckskin, and other natural elements. Laramie has been Billie Kay's home since 1984 where she has enjoyed creating in many mediums, and exhibiting her works.

Learn More

You can learn more or purchase Sharon’s artwork outside of Touchstone by contacting her directly.