‘The Sentidentalist’: UK alum combines artistry and craftsmanship

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 29, 2025) — The article below is featured in the Summer 2025 edition of Kentucky Alumni magazine.

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Perched on a nightstand in the Craftsman bungalow Katie Morrison shares with her husband, Brian, is an encased wallpaper swatch, a relic of her childhood home that ties her present to her past. Sage-colored vines coil over a muted white background within a small golden frame, an ivy-like pattern that once sprawled across her Eastern Kentucky kitchen where she spent hours with loved ones. Salvaged by her sister-in-law, Kati, before the property’s sale, it occupies a prominent place next to a seaside vacation photo of Morrison and her late mother, Melanie.

“When I look at that wallpaper, I get a sense of warmth,” Morrison said of the nostalgic gift she regards as her most cherished. “So many memories were made helping mom in the kitchen, celebrating birthdays around the table, eating home cooked meals as a family every night. We did our homework at that table. We had holidays around that table. It was home for so long, and I love having a piece of it with me.”

Morrison’s Lexington home is a mélange of vintage charm and modern style, where timeworn treasures mix with sleek, contemporary lines. Like the sun-faded wallcovering, many pieces hold cherished stories and emotions, reflecting an ethereal connection to the past. Morrison routinely seeks out forgotten treasures in second-hand shops and antique stores.

“I’m forever thrifting and trying to find vintage pieces for my home,” Morrison said of her eclectic collection. “I just found a taxidermied pheasant that I’ve been chasing for years. I love to collect — I guess you’d say — other people’s sentimental items. I feel like older things have more soul, and I get a thrill finding unique pieces that look like they’ve been loved before.”

Just as her décor reflects a mix of cherished treasures, each imbued with sentimentality and a connection to past owners, Morrison brings this same sensibility into her corporate life and creative endeavors. As with many millennials, Morrison deftly juggles two careers. By day, she works as a dental lab technician in a downtown Lexington orthodontics practice — a role that provides routine and stability (and funds stuffed birds for the living room); her burgeoning side hustle as a fine art watercolorist allows her to channel creativity nurtured since her youth in that botanical-themed kitchen.

“I’ve always loved working with my hands,” Morrison said. “My dad used to bring home scrap paper from work because he was tired of buying me drawing pads. I’d burn through paper like crazy, writing and drawing on everything.”

After graduating from Greenup County’s Russell High School, Morrison moved west to study biology before switching majors and studying at the University of Kentucky’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. Her father, Robert, attended UK as an undergraduate, and Morrison says the university has always held a special place in her heart.

“UK’s just in my blood,” she said. “When I visited campus as a high school senior, I fell in love with the city. It was so beautiful, and there’s so much history here. I couldn’t imagine myself going anywhere else.”

While studying at UK, Morrison played on the club soccer team and served as a leader in the K Club, the Varsity Letter Association — experiences that brought lasting friendships and cherished memories. Inspired by sportscaster Erin Rogers, she envisioned a similar path for herself. But when she stepped in front of the camera to interview players at a holiday basketball tournament, she realized that broadcasting might not be her calling after all.

“It was mortifying,” recalls Morrison with a chuckle. “I was like, ‘Nope, I don’t want to be in front of a camera ever again.’”

She dove headlong into public relations courses and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in integrated strategic communication. She used the skills she learned at UK to promote and market information technology services throughout the Bluegrass.

As she approached 30, career ennui began to set in. While she thrived on the creativity that came with marketing and cherished the relationships she built, the tedium of hours in front of a computer screen left her yearning for more.

“I was working at a job where I really wasn’t feeling the fullness of the creative outlet that I needed,” Morrison says. “I thought, ‘You know, dentistry is an art in and of itself.’”

After seeking counsel from friends and family, including a sister-in-law who was an oral surgeon, Morrison realized that much of the artistry she craved could be found in a completely different field: orthodontics. She embraced the challenge of learning a new craft, one that would blend precision with creativity.

Despite lacking a formal dentistry education, Morrison instinctively understood that a beautiful smile empowers individuals to feel confident, fostering connections and joyful experiences that become cherished, lasting memories. She learned the craft firsthand from practitioners who patiently showed her the ropes. In making orthodontic appliances like spacers, retainers and palatal expanders, she helps dentists restore smiles from Paducah to Paintsville, instilling renewed assurance in patients. By blending artistry with dental science, she now creates personalized solutions that preserve oral health and transform lives, not just teeth.

While gushing about the colleagues with whom she works, Morrison’s face lights up as she reflects on her unexpected career of the past four years. In addition to the fulfillment it provides, one of the most rewarding aspects of being a lab technician, she said, is that after the workday ends, she can set aside her resin, wire and soldering tools and fully immerse herself in her ever-expanding passion for painting.

Morrison’s artistic journey took an unexpected turn in 2016 when a simple act of dog-sitting led to her first commissioned painting.

“I was dog sitting as a little side job because I love dogs so much, and I couldn’t have one in my apartment,” she said.

Morrison became enamored by a silver Labrador named Lincoln; she sketched the pup on craft paper as a Christmas gift for his owner. The sketch was so well received that she was asked to paint a full watercolor portrait. Although initially drawn to dry mediums like charcoal and pastels, she decided to test her skill with painting.

“Turns out I love watercolor, and that’s my medium now,” Morrison said.

Morrison’s art is not about replicating a moment in time; it’s about capturing the essence of her subjects. She does not strive for photorealism; instead, she seeks to convey the unseen qualities that make them unique.

“A photo can only capture a frozen moment in time,” Morrison said. “With painting, you get the opportunity to add things that aren’t necessarily visible to the eye, but that capture the spirit of the subject.”

Her commissioned works often feature dogs, cats or horses — which befits her adoration of animals.

“I asked for a horse every year for Christmas until I got my driver’s license,” she said. “I never got one, but I’m still holding out hope.”

Drawing parallels between creating dental appliances and fine art, Morrison said that both mandate meticulous consideration to create meaningful results.

“Each mouth is unique, and it requires attention to detail and engagement in my mind. That keeps me really interested and focused,” she said.

Morrison added that she tries to apply the same level of focus to her fine art in an effort to get everything “just right.”

In her meticulous approach to art, Morrison views her role as faithfully capturing the essence or memory of each subject she portrays.

“I really work to be as accurate as I can while trying to put love and life in the eyes because that’s most important,” Morrison said. “Now, I always start with the eyes because if they’re wrong, you might as well trash it. It might be just because I love animals and I love people — I’m very sentimental, you know? — but I think having an artist take time to interpret something you love for you and try to make it even more special is the line between fine art and photography.”

In recent years, Morrison has expanded her artwork to include scenes taken from nature as well as less organic subjects, such as human-made structures. She calls commissions for paintings of houses “a nice break from pets, a nice break from that intensity of trying to represent a living thing.”

She adds, however, that portraits of homes are “still very loaded with sentimental value to the person that requested it.”

Each piece she creates tells a personal story, often tied to a client’s emotions. Her portfolio now features stately homes, precious pets and even one-of-a-kind apparel. Her custom cowboy boots are a particularly popular item.

“I love boots — I’m not a high-heel girl. I wear sneakers and boots,” Morrison said. “I fell in love with the concept of painted boots, so I ordered myself a cheap pair from Amazon and just started playing around.”

Morrison contacted Sherri Henry Wolf — a frequent collaborator and owner of the popular Lexington boutique, Henry Dry Goods — and asked her opinion about the commercial viability of the artful footwear.

“I texted Sherri, ‘What do you think about this?’” Morrison said. “And she said, ‘Make more,’ so I started coming up with ideas, and then I got requests for custom boots.”

She discovers gently worn boots in vintage clothing stores and rejuvenates them with reconditioning and resoling, infusing her unique flair onto the supple leather. While on a life-changing trip to Montana — where she and Brian got engaged — a local milliner spotted a pair of her boots adorned with blue butterflies and requested his own bespoke design. From there, she shared the final product on social media, which sparked a surge of interest.

“She is an amazing talent that needs to be shouted from the rooftops,” said Wolf. “I fell in love with Katie’s art from the moment I saw her first piece. She has an amazing ability to take a photo, object, idea, sketch or thought and bring it to life. The character, depth and layers in each piece take on a unique personality that we can’t wait to share with our customer base.”

Married in the summer of 2024, the Morrisons continue to settle into domesticity, balancing their various jobs and hobbies. Describing her husband as “the most kind, patient, supportive and loving partner that I could ever have,” Morrison they maintain their respective interests while sharing quality time.

“Brian has a gift for cooking; he’s an excellent chef,” Morrison said. “He cooks while I paint. I sit at the table in the kitchen, so we’re still together, cutting up and chit-chatting about our day. We have that functional balance where we’re both doing things that we love that are separate, but we’re together.”

As a proud UK alum, Morrison reflects on the importance of her college experience as a time for learning and transplanting deep roots in Lexington’s community.

“I wasn’t born in Lexington, so graduating from UK has given me a sense of belonging here,” she said. “It connects me to so many people. I find that common ground with almost everyone I talk to who went here. I’ve never met someone who graduated from the University of Kentucky and was indifferent about it. We love it, and I’ve always found that to be such an important connection.”

Coming full circle, she is applying much of the PR and marketing knowledge learned at UK to help showcase her artwork to the public. As she works special events — like the one at Keeneland during the October meet where she live-painted for onlookers — she can eloquently discuss her work and artistic philosophy with potential clients, allowing her part-time avocation to grow.

Morrison envisions a future where art remains a central part of her life, though she remains practical about the challenges.

“I’d love to be a full-time artist, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily in the cards for me,” she said. “I don’t think that would be sustainable as a full-time career. Each piece takes a substantial amount of time to get just right. I really put my whole heart into each piece.”

To view more of Morrison’s latest pieces, visit katlynannart.com.