Katherine Grey brings sea creatures and native wildlife to downtown Eagle
By Rebecca Hurd

A little fox points the way at the corner of Main and 1st Streets in Olde Town. Follow his lead to The Grey Fox Studio, Katherine Grey’s gallery and printmaking studio. Opened in August 2011, the studio is the culmination of Grey’s search to find a space of her own in the Treasure Valley. And she chose Eagle. “I really like the small town charm of Eagle, the character of the buildings, the other businesses and the community,” says Grey.

A Moscow native, Grey grew up in Florida where her parents both worked as marine biologists. She spent every summer on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, with her grandparents—both watercolor artists and retired art professors. “I spent a lot of time at my grandfather's studio. I would paint, draw or construct sculptures alongside him. I grew up knowing I wanted to be an artist and had the gift of not knowing how hard that is. It seemed perfectly normal to me to be an artist and to have a gallery,” says Grey.

Grey, a 2008 graduate from Wellesley College with a double major in Studio Art and English, remains steadfast in her pursuit of supporting herself as an artist. Grey knows how rare an opportunity and support system she has. She comes from a family of artists and biologists where no one frowns upon the path she’s following – a path not necessarily paved with any guarantee of monetary success.  Grey credits the time she spent “manning the shop” for her grandfather as essential for learning the business side of being an artist. In addition to her studio, Grey sells her prints locally at the Capital City Market and other shops, galleries on both coasts, and globally on etsy.com.

Small and large framed and unframed prints, handmade cards, accordion books and ornaments are artfully displayed throughout the gallery.  Weathered smooth driftwood, seashells and glass bottles bring the sea to land-locked Eagle.  Her affinity for oceans and sea creatures is evident in her prints of the Pacific Coast’s whales, jellyfish and sea dragons. Intermixed with these prints are depictions of Idaho’s river otters, foxes, sage grouses, ravens and scenic landscapes.

But don’t count on the same prints being displayed every time you visit Grey. She intentionally creates signed small editions of 20 or less. “I like to change out what I have on a regular basis and I feel like that keeps it more special,” notes Grey. Savvy and realistic about making her art accessible to the community, Grey prices her original prints between $20 and $200.

An avid backpacker and rafter, Grey usually travels with a sketch pad or camera, as there’s no planning when an encounter with an animal will occur. In a pinch, a napkin will do. “The octopus was a surprise for me when I was at Oregon’s Newport Aquarium. I was there to draw sea otters and the octopus came out. I rarely see one.  He got right in front of the glass and I figured I was doing this one for me, as who would buy an octopus in Eagle? It’s been my absolute best seller. People come up to me all the time with octopus tattoos,” says Grey.

Back at her studio, Grey carves the design backward into wood or linoleum. Wood is better for very small details because it’s a hard material, and linoleum is best for round shapes because she doesn’t have to fight the grain of the wood. “The hardest things to carve are little circles. Tentacles or the squid’s many suction cups can be a pain,” explains Grey. She chooses a color and uses a brayer to roll the ink onto the raised areas.  Grey watercolors or hand dyes mulberry paper before hand pressing and pulling the block to paper for each print. It gets a wee bit more complicated when she uses more than one color.

When you come to the studio you’ll find Grey helping a customer or busy working on a new print. Or, you may be lucky enough to stop by when she’s visiting with Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, the studio’s hedgehog-in-residence. Now don’t forget to thank the fox for showing you the way.