When Patty Kilson walked into the local art gallery for the first time, she didn’t expect to find a piece of Alaska waiting for her in Missouri. But there it was. A sign-up sheet passed around the room, filled with familiar phone numbers starting with 907. Alaska’s area code. Five of them.
Patty had just moved from Anchorage, where she was born and raised. Missouri was a big change. Yet in that moment, surrounded by fellow artists who shared a connection to the far north, she felt something settle. She had found her people.
Patty has been part of the Lebanon Art Guild for over six years now, volunteering weekly to help keep the gallery open and welcoming. She speaks about it less like a job and more like a refuge. A place where artists gather, talk, create, and simply enjoy being around one another. A second family built around creativity.
Her primary art mediums are watercolor and basket making. Watercolor first drew her in, and prints of her work now line the gallery walls. Basket making came later, after taking a class from fellow guild member Judy Patterson McKinley. What started as curiosity quickly became a passion. Patty now attends basket conventions, belongs to a basket guild in Springfield, and spends hours weaving pieces that are both practical and beautiful.
She also works in pyrography, acrylics, and detailed paper cutting and layering. One of her layered paper pieces, titled Sycamore Spring, features sycamore trees and wild turkeys, a quiet nod to her Missouri surroundings. In Alaska, her scenes were filled with snow, moose, and caribou. Here, her art has shifted toward Missouri insects, wildflowers, and native animals. It’s her way of embracing the place she now calls home.
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Art isn’t the only creative thread in Patty’s life. She and her husband run a small farm west of town, where she raises goats, along with cows, chickens, ducks, and geese. Every spring brings new life, and she talks about her goats with the same affection she brings to her artwork.
Patty is also a storyteller in words. As an adult, she wrote a book about a remarkable childhood experience, spending three years sailing with her family through the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Panama Canal before returning to Alaska. It’s a reminder that creativity doesn’t live in just one form.
For Patty, art is connection. To nature. To memory. To community. Whether she’s painting, weaving, volunteering, or simply sitting in the gallery visiting with fellow artists, she’s doing what she loves. And in doing so, she’s helping make the art guild a warm, welcoming place for the next person who walks through the door looking for their people.
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