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On July 5th , 2013 Thou Art Gallery opened their doors. Based in downtown Anamosa, Iowa, Thou Art Gallery has been an important installation in our beloved town. In February of 2017 a fire had broken out and destroyed most of the gallery. That didn't stop KC Kiner Wortman though, with the love, help, and support of friends and family she has been able to continue on helping and inspiring artists in our town and is dedicated to getting the gallery up and running again!

A fire destroyed Thou Art Gallery and the creative works of 35 local artists, vendor and crafts-people on

February 18, 2017. The historic building is owned and still loved by Doug & KC Wortman. It was a

culmination of KC’s life’s work…her dream job. She poured her blood, sweat and tears for the past

almost four years into making the gallery a happy experience for all who visited, for the creative events

and classes for kids and adults, and for the artists who gathered to inspire, network or be inspired. The

fire even took the life of well-loved door greeter…seventeen year old gallery kitty, MiMi.

Doug and KC were underinsured but with the help of family and friends working days, nights and weekends were able to restore this beautiful 1872 bank building's main floor. After almost 3 years on December 14, 2019 KC opened her doors with a soft opening. On March 17, 2020, she closed her doors again because of Covid and missed her Grand Reopening. On June 3, 2020 the gallery reopened. A Grand Reopening and Ribbon Cutting was scheduled for Friday, July 30, 2021. Thou Art Gallery is once again a joyous and communal home for the arts in Jones County.

KC Kiner Wortman opened the doors to Thou Art Gallery in July of 2013. She has spent her life living and breathing art. The gallery was to support and showcase local artists with affiliations with Jones County. The space also served as classroom facility for teaching and studio for KC & Kompany. This was her dream job!

She has created images for a wide variety of products for the past several years. She gained national recognition through licensed products of gift items, greeting cards, invitations, announcements, scrap booking products, books, coloring books, needlepoint kits, etc. She has illustrated video games but her passion is in illustrating and publishing books…most importantly children’s books.

KC’s talents in illustration and design began at an early age. She sold her drawings door-to-door in elementary school. Her mother gave her an attic room to use as her studio when it became apparent that she could not stop drawing! There she painted murals on the walls and learned to paint on anything that got in her way. In high school she began free-lancing. After college KC pounded the pavement in the Kansas City/ St. Joseph, MO. area picking up free-lance work from manufacturers, corporations, and advertising agencies. She shared her talents and her love for children by teaching children’s art at an art museum for many years.

During the early 80’s, she opened a studio and continued her journey. She founded an art association to support local artists and exhibited her work at juried shows. She found that people really liked her cards and manufactured cards from Omaha when her family was relocated there. In 1991, her sister joined her and they began manufacturing cards from their warehouse in Dallas after they took a few designs to the national gift and stationary show at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City. They were amazed at the response they received from buyers and licensing agents and continued to research the market and come up with new designs. Her birth announcements were marketed through hospitals across the USA. She continues to work with manufactures, corporations, organizations, individuals and publishers upon request. KC creates a wide variety of projects. She enjoys the adventure of never knowing what the next project might be and loves a good challenge!

Today, KC & Kompany has become an internationally recognized design studio with more than 35 years’ experience. KC continues to create award winning designs by thinking outside the box! Many of her clients have been returning for more than 25 years.

Finally after a lot of work, she and her husband with the help of friends and family have rebuilt and restored the building again so that Thou Art Gallery can once again be a joyous and communal home for the arts in Jones County.