‘Makebelieve Flowers’, maquette,
‘Conversations with my Mother’ 2014

‘Sewing Garden’, object,
‘Conversations with my Mother’ 2014

What’s in an Exhibition?

To me Exhibitions, or Shows, are a collection of works that an Artist has created to a narrative. They can be group shows, often with a theme, or a solo showcasing a body of work. Sailing was my seachange from the art world, but a longing to create called me back to being a maker.

In 2014, beached from years of shipping adventures, time working for other jewellers, and in a sea of grief, I found Julie Poulsen’s Diploma art classes at Tafe. In the last term we had to develope a body of work. I was a little artistically rusty but it felt good to be self directed again.

“Conversations With My Mother” developed from my need to grieve and grow.
With mum’s passing came a flood of memory and a longing for the sound of her voice. 
Joyful tales about all the domestic things you need to make a home was a fun conversation between us. We joked about what society said we ‘couldn’t live without’, when we knew we could happily make do ‘camping on a shoe string’, she would say.

Seeing the beauty in all things, I created whimsical and ethereal  ‘make-believe’ blooms from everyday household items using florist wire, feathers, plastic flower parts, cotton reels, buttons, needle and thread. I gathered nesting materials like a bird. A white washed aesthetic tied the works together, creating silhoette shadow forms of birds and flowers. All the loves and lessons of our shared time together.
Memories of my mum Janice, our language of making with our hands and hearts, without words, became a delicate collection of works with a little of her humour giggling in my heart. A remedy for my sorrow!

‘Conversations With My Mother’ instalation for “Showcase” end of year student exhibiton, Tafe North, Cairns 2014

‘Conversations with my Mother’ was selected to show in ‘Cairns Emerging Contemporaries 2015’, a group show presented in the Loft Space of Cairns Art Gallery. (Formerly known as Cairns Regional Gallery)

This oportunity came with an option to apply for a solo exhibition, which I did and from there ‘All That Remains’ was born.

‘All That Remains’, my first solo exhibition, was created for the Niche in CAG. A small intimate space where I was able to take the viewer on an investigative visual journey into reef restoration to highlight climate pressures I could see were possibly too late to rectify. I had witnessed a lot of polution globally from my seafaring years. Hence the title, questioning what will remain if we keep using resources as fast as we are, lots of colourful plastic!

“Single use plastics, obsolete electronics, chemical impacts of farming, disposable fashion, and a million other little concerns, have been contemplatively stitched into the works.” Kate

Colour Restore ‘Test 1’ to ‘Test 9’ , ‘Test 5’ pictured.
Nine soft sculpture mixed media necklaces of knitted cotton string, electronics cables, polymer clay, felted cat fur, mohair, embroidery thread, soy sauce fish, kimono, mother of pearl, faux pearl, wood, glass, cable ties, acupuncture needle sheaths, plastic aquarium coral, plastic plant parts.

‘Colour Restore Test 1 to Test 8’ were selected for ‘USE’, a juried exhibition by Members of The Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Queensland curated by Liam Bryan-Brown. This exhibition travelled Regional centers through 2018 -2021. Read more here

‘Micro Habitas I’ brooch, faux pearl,with grey hand coloured polymer clay, felted cat fur, hand fabricated brass powder coated brooch frame, stainless steel, crochet cotton, rayon, mother of pearl, plastic plant parts.

‘Wetlands’ III brooch, hand fabricated brass, powder coated, stainless steel pin.

‘Jacana’ object, hand fabricated reticulated and fused sterling silver, natural Queensland agate slice, cast natural object.