Kate (b. 1993, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) is a Cape Town-based visual artist. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Stellenbosch (SU) in 2018. She attained a Master’s degree in Visual Art from the same institution in 2021.

During her time as a student, she worked as an intern for SMAC Gallery and then as a teaching assistant in the printmaking department at SU.

Kate is known for her organic, plant-inspired paintings and drawings, influenced by her love of nature and peaceful surroundings. Her ‘foliagescapes’ reflect her fascination with botanical art while also functioning as an expression of the uplifting, calming, and reassuring qualities inherent within nature.

Kate’s art seeks to bring contentment and tranquillity to the viewer. By utilising soothing colours and constructing harmonious, balanced compositions, she aims to create artworks that invite the viewer inward into a mindset of quiet contemplation. More recently, her work explores the theme of the forest: a space, both real and imagined, that forms the backdrop of many stories in literary fiction. Kate is concerned with the play of mark-making, colour, illusion, and depth, and the perception that this creates in the eye of the viewer.

Her studio is based at SideTrack Studios in Salt River.

Artist Statement:

My work investigates the concept of plants and organic structures, bringing into question our relationship with the natural world. Through the use of drawing and painting, I attempt to recreate the restorative properties that nature has on humanity and the individual. As nature (both real and imagined) can be a soothing experience, so too can be said of my practice. Its repetitive and meditative manner of execution becomes evident in its many layers, shades, tonalities, and contours that constitute the making of my work. My art seeks to evoke imagination for the viewer, whilst inviting a sense of immersion and wonder.

2024

– In the Wake, Hugo Modern Art (Durbanville)

2023

– First Thursdays (December), One Gallery; Diverse Visions, Mullers Gallery (Cape Town)
– Blooming Marvellous, Noordhoek Art Point (Noordhoek, WC)
– I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Cavalli Gallery, Somerset West
– First Thursdays (September), Shape & Form, Mullers Gallery (Cape Town)
– First Thursdays (April), Natalensis, Mullers Gallery (Cape Town)
– First Thursdays (December), Mullers Gallery (Cape Town)
– ENTANGLED (participant & guest curator), RK Contemporary (Riebeek Kasteel)

2022

– LUSH, RK Contemporary (Riebeek Kasteel)
– Sakpas, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery (Durbanville)
– When Wild Woods Whisper, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery (Durbanville)
– Achromatica, RK Contemporary (Riebeek Kasteel)