Artist Bio

Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Kate received her first degree at the University of West of Scotland and went on to finely develop her artistic career alongside that as a paint and colour chemist which she fully utilizes today in her Acrylic and Mixed Media work to create her unique and distinctive Neo-Naïve style. Kate has most recently studied with OCA, and privately at various master ateliers in Switzerland. In addition to her studio in Basel, 2018 saw her open Tiree Art Studio on the Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.

A member of the Royal Glasgow Institute and an Artmap Argyll Artist, Kate’s paintbrush is driven by her Celtic and social heritage, her homeland and ancestry. For many years this has manifest itself from the perspective of a self-imposed exile. Her resulting works have serious big bang colour and texture but with a simplicity of form that takes it far beyond the traditional Naïve genre, reflecting both the romance and turmoil experienced as a nomadic artist.
Kate exhibits around the world - her recent shows included work exhibited at House for An Art Lover, Glasgow, Gallery @ Ratchapat University, Thailand as part of Uncooked Culture Collectives ‘One Bare Square Foot’ project and at the Wilson Shaft Gallery in Katowice (Poland) during the Naïve Art Festival. She is also a member of the Front of Bicycle Art Collaborative in Basel, exhibiting regularly in Switzerland.
Kate also works to give back to the community through active participation in numerous social, community and charitable events.

Artist Statement

My artistic practice derives from considering aspects of 'Home' and what it means to me. For a long time homesickness was a more prominent feature in my life and my artwork has become strongly driven by my social and ancestral heritage and culture – looking backward from different points in time in order to determine the road forward.

Inspired by Giacometti, Botero, Birrell and Collins, my own particular style has been deemed by others as Neo-Naïve - reduction of thought, place or sensory experience down to a highly simplistic form, often raw, naïve and quirky, without compromising technique. Colour drives me, motivates me and feeds my soul and, depending on what I want to communicate in a specific piece, can often be my starting point. On a really bad day my work is monochrome.

The Scottish landscape, coastline, its waterways and all that this means in social and historical terms is the inspiration for my subject matter. I am lucky enough to have seen phenomenal change in Scotland, both close up and from a distance, in the last 25 years and have painted my way through both the positive and negative changes, reconciling them on canvas or wood.
I have spent much of the last 10 years as I can painting my way around Argyll and the Isles, creating studies on site which I convert to canvas or wood, largely in mixed media, in the studio. I endeavour to get to know my homeland and its people on a different level through my painting experiences and the pieces I produce. 2018 saw me open a second working studio on the Isle of Tiree.