Women Leaders … with Kelly Barbazette: Artist carves path that merges love for creativity and head for business

Six years ago, Katherine Filice decided to show her art; it has been displayed in numerous shows

Gilroy resident Katherine Filice’s art has been shown in London, Hong Kong and New York and is currently on display in Los Angeles. She is also the owner of Articulate Solutions in Gilroy.
Photo courtesy Katherine Filice

By Kelly Barbazette

Kelly Barazette

Whether launching her marketing company or entering her pen-and-ink drawings in an international art show, Katherine Filice brings grit and determination to each new endeavor.

“I’ve always succeeded whenever I struggled in something. I like to have to work hard. It focuses me,” the 59-year-old Gilroyan said. “I like to struggle. The best part of that, it always makes me do the best work.”

I recently spoke via Zoom with the award-winning artist, and founder and CEO of Articulate Solutions, which celebrates 31 years this year, about how she carved a path that merges her love for creativity and head for business.

Born in Yuma, Ariz., Filice’s parents moved to the Bay Area when she was a child for her father’s engineering job helping to develop some of the first lasers in Silicon Valley. After high school, Filice juggled three jobs while attending classes at community colleges, saying going straight from high school to college to study art wasn’t financially possible. Instead, she majored in business and took computer program and design courses and landed a job at Apple Computers. She ultimately graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership.

“I Remember” by Katherine Filice

Filice started doing desktop publishing and graphic design professionally in 1991.

“I like to say that I started my business for 35 dollars,” she said, explaining she bought an ad in the local Penny Saver. That investment led to her first job in desktop publishing. A year later, she started Articulate Solutions from her San Martin home. She moved to Gilroy in 1998 after marrying her husband of 24 years, Dean.

She explained how she’s “very dual-brained,” equally artistic and entrepreneurial, juggling both the business and creative sides of her business as a company owner and artist.

Her favorite thing about leading her company is learning something new about a multitude of industries. This helps her effectively market her clients’ services.

Katherine Filice working on her art.
Photo courtesy Katherine FIlice

“It’s so exciting. We’re a very diversified agency,” she said.

Filice believes she has a responsibility to help everyone who works at her company to be their best selves. So she gives them the resources they need to accomplish that.

During the pandemic, when business came to a standstill, Articulate Solutions employees used the time to expand their training. The company has never had to lay off any staff.

She credits the success of the company and its earning more than 130 industry awards to the team, including Jason Raby, chief marketing officer, who handles the daily operations.

“All of that that has been accomplished in 31 years, I really played a very small part,” Filice said. “I open the doors, I get the resources, and then I get out of the way.”

“I Am Nowhere” by Katherine Filice

An avid artist, Filice decided six years ago to start publicly showing her work. She’s drawn to pen-and-ink because they’re so heavily influenced in the graphic design business. She applied in 2017 to exhibit her artwork at the ArtRooms Fair London, an international art show. Out of more than 1,150 applicants worldwide, she was one of about 80 artists selected.

“That gave me a door and some confidence,” she said.

Since then, she has exhibited at dozens of art shows.

At the start of the pandemic, Filice began taking art classes online, including through Yellow Chair Salon workshops led by Guggenheim Fellow Michael David. She started experimenting with oil paints, which introduced her to a “new way of creating more than what she was sensing and seeing.”

“All of a sudden a new world opened up to me that didn’t exist before,” she said. “It’s been a rather dramatic 180 in terms of what I create.”

Home by Katherine Filice

Initially she was worried about shifting away from pen-and-ink drawings, but her supporters have followed her in this new direction.

“Having that emotional support as I made that journey, friends, and family, and collectors have cheered me on wherever I wanted to go,” she said.

She hopes to infuse her work with positive vibrations and bring that energy and possibility into the homes of the people who collect her art.

“My work for me opens a door to another place, and for the collector I want the door to open,” she said.

When not working or creating, Filice enjoys hiking, yoga, and spending time with her two German Shepherds — one older and the other a new rescue puppy. She also keeps taking online classes about different subjects, including the history of abstract art, and three different art residency programs.

She credits Dean for his support and encouraging her to strive in her business and artistic endeavors. He has helped her find the courage to take chances and build confidence when trying something new.

“I’m not a natural learner. I wasn’t a natural student,” she said. “I’m not necessarily the best artist, but what I’m willing to do is try. What I’m willing to do is learn and get back up.”

She tries a lot of different things creatively — leaving a dozen things crumpled on the floor in her wake.

“You won’t know how good you can be until you push through,” she said. “You will fall, you will fail, you will be embarrassed and scared and challenged and exposed. Failing is part of the process, but you have to get back up.”

Kelly Barbazette, a former journalist for Bay Area newspapers, is a freelance writer. She lives in Gilroy with her husband and two daughters. She can be reached at [email protected].