| Kate Holden | Painting |
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Photography |
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Illustration |
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All work copyright of the Artist 2009 |
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A r t i s t |
I n f o r m a t i o n |
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Inspiration My work is about the energy that is both within and around us. I love the visual and emotive effects of colour and light. I want to capture the atmosphere or drama of a moment or landscape and recreate the sensation through colour and movement. My greatest inspiration comes from hiking in wild, remote places where you can truly see and feel the pure energy and lifeforce in nature and the immense beauty of our world. And I want to somehow capture and preserve this beauty and energy in my artwork. During my studies I became really interested in colour theories, and the relationship of colour to music, energy and emotion. I was most inspired by early 20th century artists such as Kandinsky, Matisse and Chagall and also greatly by the Impressionists such as Monet and Bonnard. During the 10 years I lived in Scotland I became very inspired by the soft glowing light of the Northern hemisphere which is so different from the strong contrasting light of Australia. This led me to explore very different ways of using paint to create more subtle light effects and movement through soft and sharp focus. And to create a different kind of glowing ntensity of colour through a slow build up of layers. I also worked on a series of paintings of dancers during this time to really explore and push the boundaries of dramatic movement and colour. More recently I've begun to study the work of contemporary Aboriginal artists such as Kathleen Petyarre who creates amazing subtle shimmering movement with tiny dots of colour. And I'm currently experimenting with ways to combine sparkling surface colour with softer layers and forms to further develop ways of creating colour and movement in my paintings.
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| ~Technique | |||||||||||||||
I love the process and craftsmanship of making a painting and exploring the ways in which you can manipulate a medium to create beautiful, subtle and emotive effects. I work in oils and build up thin glazes of colour using varying repetitive brush stokes to create shimmering movement and soft and sharp focus in the painting, while slowly intensifying the colour. I prefer to work mostly on large canvases and use photos and sketches taken on location as a reference. The paintings are then completed in my studio over a period of couple of months to allow drying time between layers. |
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| ~Background | |||||||||||||||
I was born in Sydney, Australia where I had a magical childhood, spent largely in the outdoors. After school, I went on to study Visual Communication and design for 2 years, followed by a degree in Fine Art where I specialised in Landscape Painting , Drawing and Photography. I spent a lot of time studying trees and the environment in the national parks and bushland around Sydney and throughout NSW including a field trip to the desert. I explored ways of working with contrasting light and colour and experimenting with colour theories. In my final year of study I worked on a series of mural size drawings of trees from the Royal National Park south of Sydney, experimenting with energy lines and colour. I then moved to Scotland for 10 years where I began a career as an artist. During this time I developed a passion for hiking and began to focus on capturing the glowing light of the Northern hemisphere and the rich colours of the landscape.I was particularly inspired by raw natural beauty and wild open terrains of Scotland and worked on techniques to capture the light, movement and atmosphere . I also travelled extensively to other parts of Europe including a 3 month art trip through parts of Italy. After a period back in Australia where I had an exhibition based on my travels in Italy, I moved to The Netherlands where I currently work in a studio in Utrecht |
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Exhibitions Solo Exhibitions Jun’07 ‘Moving Colour’ Paintings of Italy, Medium Rare Gallery, Sydney Group exhibitions July '10 BLAUWE MAANDAG FESTIVAL KOM Oosterhout Oct '09 Atelier Route, Open Studio Exhibition Vlampijp Ateliers Utrecht Nov ‘08 Atelier Route ‘08 Open Studio Exhibition, VlampijpAteliers, Utrecht Education 1993-96 Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney |
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