Kate Williamson
Dunedin , Otago, New Zealand
About Kate Williamson
National Bonspiel painting was selected into the top ten works in the Back to Nature Showdown Competition. The top ten winners were selected by internationally acclaimed artist Ged Quinn.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Let the sea bear witness
Let the wind bear witness
Let the earth bear witness
Let the stars bear witness
W. B. Yeats
"I strive to capture in paint the deep reverence I have for this land. I use paint in all states of elasticity/liquidity/multi-layered/dribbled to express as freely as I can, bringing forth the energy that matches how I feel. The enormity of climate change the hurt/harm/ and outright worry I have for this gift of paradise we are an interweaved part of. My work strives to depict the hum and dynamic interplay of colours/light/water/sky/life, the warm sands alive with cockles, ('white birds on the foam of the sea,' Yeats). I want the raw image, the organic aesthetic to enliven the canvas and the space it goes on to inhabit. I am not finished painting until I visually find myself exploring every corner of the canvas and have gone on a journey within these painted realms."
Kate Williamson was born in Christchurch, and now lives in the nature reserve of Waipori Falls New Zealand. Renowned for her large and striking works, which are a direct response to her environment. Kate's highly original works are held in collections around the world.
Education:
Kate has a Diploma Advanced from The Learning Connexion (alternative) Art school, Wellington New Zealand. Also trained in France, with the guidance of large-scale expert painter Yvan Mauger. The artist was involved in a large-scale performance painting at Le Mans, 24 hour Grand Prix.
Kate is a cancer survivor. At 25, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, and subsequently did six months of chemotherapy. It was during this period that her paintings took on a unique expression. There is immediacy to her work that is still evident many years on.
Events:
.*My work is now published in the U.K Dark Mountain Project 2016 book issue #9 THE HUMBLING. "The Dark Mountain Project is a network of writers artists and thinkers who have stopped believing the stories our civilization tells itself. We produce and seek our writing, art and culture rooted in place, time and nature" www.dark-mountain.net
23/24/25/26 October 2015 QUEENSTOWN JAZZ FESTIVAL, I have been invited to paint live, spontaneous, intuitive works directly influenced by the music during the Jazz concerts. Good times.*
ART TRAIL, Dunedin city and peninsula art trail, 18 October 2015 10:30 - 4:00pm. Tickets $20 ring 03-4730278 or email lslaylittle@gmail.com
(I am one of the artists on the trail, my studio will be full of available works, come out and see the inspiration for many of my works right out my studio windows).
22 November 2015 Climate Change group exhibition at St Pauls Cathedral Dunedin, NZ group exhibition. * Also a Vigil (Love The Earth) will be held two weeks out from the Paris Climate Change meeting. The vigil meets at 7pm 22 November in the Octagon Dunedin and proceed to St Pauls Cathedral.
Opening of my exhibition 'Let The Earth Bear Witness', (Mr Yeats) 11:30am Saturday 2015 at MORAY GALLERY 55 Princess Street Dunedin New Zealand. www.moraygallery.com
Breath One: Atmosphere painting featured in the worldwide promotion of the new Saatchi Art app 2014.
Artist Of The Day, Saatchi Art multi media exposure. 21/May/ 2014. Art work 'Sunday Morning Visitors',
National Bonspiel painting has been selected into Saatchi Online's Best of 2013 Collection.
National Bonspiel painting has been selected into the top ten works in the Back to Nature Showdown Competition.
Exhibitions:
* Green Fusion, the real world series. SOLO EXHIBITION, Moray Gallery. Opening 1st of July 2017 12pm. 55 Princes street Dunedin New Zealand www.moraygallery.com runs until the end of July.
Art Review by James Dignan featured in the Otago Daily Times Art Seen:
July 20.
"Green Fusion: The Real World Series", Kate Williamson (Moray Gallery)
"Kate Williamson's art forms an antithesis to the technocracy of Jackson's oracle. Her acrylic images revel in the natural world, specifically the island of wilderness, which is the bush around Waipori Falls.
Williamson claims that her aim is to paint the ''real'' life endangered and dwindled by the encroachment of the ''make believe'' world of human industrialisation. Ironically, her charming pictures present a world that glows in an almost magical light, seemingly hyperreal in its honeyed tones and sparkling dapples.
In pieces such as The Watcher, the light seems to vibrate. The paint, boldly applied in gestural splashes, brings the forest to vivid life.
Works such as Dawn Chorus, Swallows in the Mist and Native Visitors go further still; here, the landscape becomes a breathing backdrop, detail dissolving into an impressionistic sensual realm that is no longer just forest but also impenetrable curtain, shutting out the troubles of the human world.
The bush becomes a place of flowing, shifting colour and light. The fantails of Native Visitors stand out as the only solid items on display, signifiers in a world of molten green.
As with the humans in Lisa Reihana's images, they become the actors in a play, the sole focus of our attention in their vivacity and dynamism."
Review end.
2016 My work is also now available from; N.Z Greenstone, Art & Carving Studio 100% N.Z Made Products. Portobello Dunedin.
15/29 November 2015 Climate Change group exhibition St Pauls Cathedral Dunedin NZ.
2015 MORAY GALLERY EXHIBITION 55 Princes Street Dunedin NZ.
Let The Earth Bear Witness. (Mr Yeats)
OPENING APRIL 11 Saturday 11:30am all welcome.
Ends May 1/2015
www.moraygallery.com
Exhibition of ten works at Dunedin International Airport, New Zealand
starting 05 July - 05 August 2014
Work at Bryce Gallery Christchurch 2014/2015
Two large works displayed at Dunedin Airport, NZ. 2013
Foyer Display (on going)
Consultancy House
7 Bond St, Dunedin
05/10/2013 - 05/11/2013
Exhibition at Nectar, 286 Princes St, North Dunedin.
Work available from Portobello Gallery 2013
2013 - 2014
Work available at Artbay Gallery, 32 Rees St, Queenstown,
