Although Kathy Wise a city girl for most of her growing up years, she has always had a strong love for animals. When she was a teenager, her family moved to a rural area in the thumb area of Michigan. She fell in love with country living almost instantly. Kathy credits her mother, who is also an artist, for her interest in art. As a child, she busily sculpted animals out of soap and later wood while her mother painted landscapes and people. High school and college art classes intensified her interest in art and sculpture. A ceramics class in college where she added sculpted clay animal figures to her pots led to the creation of many other animal sculptures. Students were soon asking Kathy to create animals for them. Kathy graduated with Magna Cum Laude with an Associates Degree in Commercial Art.

Kathy's first animals were sculpted from low-fire ceramic clay. She started selling her sculptures at art fairs and shows. She made every breed of dog and many popular animals, all one-of-a-king originals. She worked out of her parent's home, with her mother working along side of her painting the glazes on each figure. Immediately store owners were asking Kathy to sell her delightful animal characters to them. Soon she was supplying over 70 stores including the Mole Hole, a nation wide chain of collectible gift stores.

In 1983, Gene Freedman (then President of Enesco Corp.) first saw Kathy's work in a Seattle gift shop. This man who launched Precious Moments saw potential in Kathy's art and contacted her to start the first of her many lines in the giftware industry. She has gone on to design animal figures and giftware for many other companies including Simson, Westland, United Design, and Encore Group. Over the years, Kathy has designed and sculpted over one thousand different items in over forty lines that have been sold worldwide.

Kathy first began designing Intarsia Patterns for her father-in-law (Phil MacDonald) over 9 years ago. When his customers would ask for a special dog breed or custom intarsia of their pet, he would ask Kathy to create the pattern. She started to market the patterns and found intarsia artists loved her designs. Go to the Customer Testimonial Page to read some of the wonderful comments from Intarsia woodworkers. She offers the greatest variety of dog breed intarsia patterns found anywhere. With Kathy's knowledge and background in sculpting dogs, each pattern has a unique personality that is not found in any other intarsia patterns available in the marketplace. New exciting patterns are being added every other month, see the Intarsia Catalog Page for the new additions . She has developed a beginner intarsia kit that is very unique and easy to use.

In Fall of 2004, Scroll Saw Workshop (Fox Chapel Publishing) published the first article by Kathy featuring her Boston Terrier intarsia design and step by step instructions. Following articles in the next 6 issues include a Bird Wreath, Calico Cat, Arabian Horse, Maple Leaf Picture Frame, Poinsettia Wreath and Turkey. Kathy has been featured on 3 covers. She was asked to write a two part article for Wood Carving Illustrated on how to carve a Bulldog Bulletin Board. To see these articles, go to the In The News page. She has received wonderful reviews regarding her articles and patterns and will be doing more articles for Fox Chapel Publishing Co. in the future. Kathy accepts special commissions for her intarsia work, including murals and large wall pieces.