Kate Williamson
Kate Williamson
Dunedin , Otago, New Zealand
About Kate Williamson
ARTIST STATEMENT “My work strives to depict the hum and dynamic interplay of colours and light, water and sky. Life: the warm sands alive with cockles; the light angling through the trees; the myriad reflections in a deep pool of water. I want the raw image, the organic aesthetic to enliven the canvas and the space it goes on to inhabit.” Kate Williamson, artist. “The artist explores this analogy by creating landscape forms which strip away the reality of the scene to replace it with something that gives the impression of moving liquid. This is particularly evident in the earth-fire-and-water composition Pool of colours, where the solidity of the landforms seem to melt into a flow of hue and light. A similar suffusion of solid elements is found in the sun-drenched Orb. More tangible lands emerge in the high country valley of Origin and mountain meadow of Light Scatter II, but it is perhaps in the deep molten undergrowth and solid branches of Forest Lights that the exhibition reaches a peak.” James Dignan, arts reviewer. ODT ArtSeen: June 7, 2018 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 artworks 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:
New Spring Collection Dark Mountain: Issue 17 (RESTORATION) features cover art ‘Violet Storm’ by Kate Williamson
Published in the Autumn tenth Anniversary Collection Dark Mountain: issue 16 (REFUGE).
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.
*My painting Breath One; Atmosphere is published in the Dark Mountain: issue 13 (BEING HUMAN). Out from April 2018.
*My work is 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:
*Origin exhibition.
Moray Gallery Dunedin exhibition opening date June 2nd 2018.
* 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,