Katherine Sullivan
Artist’s Statement
I have always been fascinated by the question of identity and the way we portray this in the world through the forms of our clothing and our architecture. Both are seen as metaphors for the body and for human experience. Dress both defines and de- individualises us and, in this sense, stands like architecture upon the dangerous margins between self and ‘other, inside and outside, private and public. The great architects of modernism recognised this connection, and used the body and it’s clothing in order to interpret the relationship between structure and ornament [façade] in their buildings. In 1883, the architect Gottfried Semper identified the very nature of architecture with the textile and stated that a building was ‘worn’ and not occupied. His understanding of body and clothes, structure and ornament as one, underpins the perceptual framework for my work. My experience as a costume maker and my subsequent translation of textile processes into sculptural elements within my work, place me in an excellent position to investigate this relationship. I initiate residencies in heritage sites in order to scrutinise in both academic and sculptural terms, the archaeology of this ‘mask’ or ‘membrane’ which stands upon this margin between public and private space. This leads to the creation of ‘equivalent’ fabrics that can be used in relation to structure in the sculptural process. I experiment with building and engineering materials whilst employing techniques found in the textile industry in order to create fabrics of my own. It has been my aim to remove the ornamental elements from clothing and buildings and their translation into solid, weight - bearing, enduring sculptural materials.
Photomontage and collage are tools I employ to begin the process of breaking down the boundaries between the sartorial and the architectural; they are my working drawings.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
1997-9 MA [Art in Architecture] Univ. East London, Plaistow E13
1993-6 BA [hons] Fine Art Sculpture, Univ of Wolverhampton 2:1
Awards
2017 Sept. Highly Commended, AIR Open, Studio 4, Trafford.
2016 Oppenheimer John Downs Foundation Award.
Commissions
2021 Private Commission – Memorial Bench – Attenborough Arts Centre. Leicester
Residencies
2014 May- July ‘Soul to Sole’ Croome Park , Worces, National Trust.
2013-14 Sept - May Wolverhampton University Residency.
2012-13 Oct – March, AA2A Residency, Coventry University/
2010 June – Sept Artist in Residence, Bridlington Hospital. Hafney Trust, Yorks
2009-10 Dec – Mar, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales.
2007-8 International Visiting Artist in Residence, Custom House Studios, Westport, County Mayo, Eire
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Mar - Apr, ‘Building Works’ Custom House Gallery, Westport, Co Mayo. Rep Irel
2016 15/9-26/9 Clifden Arts Festival, Connemara, Co Galway, Rep Ireland.
2009 Feb/Mar ‘Residues’ GPF Gallery, Newport, Gwent.
2007 Sep/Oct ‘Material Translations’, Custom House Gallery, Westport, Co Mayo
2005 April/May ‘Fabrications’ Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport, Gwent
Commissions
2021 Memorial Bench. Richard Attenborough Centre, Leicester University
Group Exhibitions
2021 Dec 1 – 12th, ‘Fronteer Open’ Exchange Studio Gallery. Sheffield.
2021 Nov 11th – 19th ‘Vertical Merger’, Uncovered Collective, Woolwich. London
2020 Sept 30 – Oct 4th ‘Emergent Vision’ Uncovered Collective, Peckham, London
2019 Aug–Sept Qube Open ‘Inclusion’. Qube Gallery. Oswestry. Shropshire
2019 July, ‘Leeds Left Bank Arts Prize’ Leeds.
2018 Oct/ Nov ‘We are making a new World’ Artizan Gallery, Torquay.
2018 Sept –USA Publication ‘Lips’ Expressions of Female Sexuality.
2018 June/July, ‘Balance’, Artist’s Workhouse gallery, Studely, Warwks
2017 8-13 Oct, ‘Kleptomania’ Chalmers Bequest Gallery, Stoke Newington.London
2017 Aug-Sept AIR Open, Studio 4 Gallery, Trafford, Manchester
2017 July- Sept – Chester Arts Centre Open Exhibition. Chester.
2017 18/3 -26/3 ‘We Need to Talk about Clothes’ Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham.
2017 7/3-22/3 ‘She will Need her Sisterhood’, Brunswick Gallery, Leeds.
2017 5/3–16/3 ‘Transgender, Gender, Psychoanalysis’, Site Fringe, London SE17