After studying at Falmouth and Goldsmiths Kate returned to her childhood home and now lives in a yurt in South Devon and paints, draws and makes prints in her lovely studio near the sea.  Kate takes inspiration from myth, literature, trashy visual culture, porn (ancient, vintage and modern), fairytales, historical characters, puns, google image searches and people with fascinating faces. 

Ever since she was a little girl (she isn’t terribly grown up even now) Kate has been drawn to draw faces.  After returning to Devon she has completely fallen under the spell of printmaking but is still in love with paint, pencils and charcoal.  Kate will be tutoring courses at Dartington and Coombe Farm in Devon so she can share her passion for printmaking.

 In 2006 she was selected for a national showcase for emerging creative talent judged by Stella Vine. Live art performances often feature in her shows; including the 2006 Liverpool Biennial, which received coverage on BBC2 and her debut London solo exhibition in 2007, which was singled out by the Sunday Times as a must-see. Kate has been asked to participate in fundraisers for women’s rights in Mexico alongside Tracey Emin and The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and for the Prince’s Trust at Bonham’s. In Autumn 2011 Kate was selected to participate in an artist in residence project in Raghurajpur, a heritage arts village in North Eastern India.  20 international artists learnt traditional Indian arts and crafts from master-craftsmen and women and exchanged ideas about their own contemporary practices.  In Spring 2012 Kate has been asked to collaborate with curator Gareth Ballyn to be artists in residence at the Tagore Festival on the Dartington Estate.  They will be creating and encouraging the public to help create small bound books inspired by Tagore and the Dartington experience.  Kate is the 1st artist in residence at Drink, Shop & Do until 20^th May 2012.

Kate's long-term work in progress is a limited edition artist's book of portraits and Kate's takes on the works of Tracey Emin, Gilbert and George, Damian Hirst, Grayson Perry, Sam Taylor Wood and Stella Vine. The project is inspired by, explores and probably also continues the cult of the celebrity artist from Vasari's Lives of the Great Artists to the modern fascination with the drunken antics of YBAs. The book also explores the historical role of printmaking and the differences between conceptual art and craft. It is a time consuming process and will result only a few limited edition copies. A release date has not yet been set and full press release will be available as soon as it is.

“The style of my paintings varies but I am very excited by line and colour. My work is often playful and ironic. The decorative is a recurrent theme as is the sexualized body. I like to explore the established notion of the figure of the artist and the historical relationship between artist and model.I enjoy bringing art to people in more ways than the traditional static gallery environment and am always looking for ways of introducing a more performative aspect to my work.

In 2009 I collaborated with a sound artist to create an immersive experience in a medieval clock tower. People watched me cover the walls with dramatic charcoal drawings whilst listening to an eerie and beautiful soundscape inspired by the book The Drowning Room by Michael Pye. Other live projects have included live life drawing at Movida, a peep-show drawing booth in London and painting a baroque inspired ceiling whilst musicians performed below me in Germany.  In June 2011 I collaborated with curator Gareth Ballyn to create an installation of paintings and the creation of 100 limited edition handmade zines using low-fi publishing techniques (type writers, biros and carbon paper) all inspired by the book “The Bitterweed Path”, a seminal book in the history of American gay literature.”

Kate loves to paint portraits so please contact us if you would like to arrange a sitting.

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