Kate Salley Palmer Bio and Artist Statement
In 1975, Kate Salley Palmer became the first full-time editorial page cartoonist for a South Carolina newspaper, The Greenville News.
In 1976, she joined The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, one of only two women In that organization.
In 1981, Palmer’s cartoons were nationally syndicated, and she won the Freedoms Foundation's top honor, the George Washington Medal, for Editorial Cartooning. She continued creating nationally syndicated cartoons until 1987, when she transitioned to writing and illustrating children's picture books. Between 1990 and 2019, more than 20 of her books were published by various publishers, including Simon & Schuster and Boyd’s Mills Press.
During the Covid pandemic, she created watercolor caricatures at home.
In 2022, she took a class at the Blue Ridge Art Center in Seneca, SC, and began painting, starting with watercolors and acrylics, and now working with oils as well.
“As an artist, my journey has been an evolution from the spirited world of cartooning to the expressive realm of oil painting. My earlier career as a cartoonist taught me the power of bold lines, dynamic compositions, and storytelling through exaggeration. These elements continue to influence my work. Each stroke and color choice is part of a narrative.
In my paintings, I seek to capture human experience and the beauty of the world around us. The whimsical spirit and playful energy of my cartooning days are still present, translated now into a more fluid visual language. I hope my art invites viewers to engage on a personal level, finding their own narratives within the abstract forms.
Oil painting allows me to explore depth, texture, and color in ways that cartoons could not. The rich, layered nature of oils gives my work a tactile quality that invites closer inspection and a deeper connection.
This transition from cartoonist to oil painter has been a journey of rediscovery and reinvention. It has allowed me to blend the structured, narrative-driven approach of my past with the freeform expression of the present.”
- Kate Salley Palmer