Artist Spotlight: Kate Collyer
Kate Collyer, Untitled, 8” x 11”, Pigment Stick® found material monoprint with linocut and Pigment Stick® drawing, 2019.
Kate Collyer lives and works in the Hudson Valley where she serves as adjunct professor for several universities in the area and teaches an annual workshop at R&F. Kate received her MFA in Printmaking from SUNY New Paltz and is currently a Studio Art PhD candidate at the Burren College of Art in Ireland.
Her work has been exhibited extensively, including internationally in Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Japan, Australia, and Canada. She was the 2014 recipient of the Southern Graphics Council International Graduate Fellowship Award and her work is in the permanent collections of the SMTG Krakow Printmaking Triennial Collection, the SGC International Archives at the Zuckerman Museum of Art, and the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation, among others.
Both printmaker and storyteller, Kate notes in her artist statement that “throughout time, oral tradition and myth have been used to connect us to our environment in ways that bypass ‘from-ness’, giving us the literacy of a landscape… [and] resulting in a moral - a better understanding of a truth - that allows one to see where they are more clearly.”
Can you tell us a little about yourself? How did you get your start as an artist?
I have always been creative. There are photographs of me as a toddler making art at my father's drafting desk. It was during my undergraduate studies that I merged my love for making with my desire to educate.
As an adult, I've spent many years in international artists residencies, most recently the Arctic Circle Residency in Svalbard, the Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design in Nova Scotia, and Edition/Basel in Switzerland.
Kate Collyer, Desert Scape, 4” x 12”, paper lithograph with encaustic and watercolor in a handmade bookcloth cylinder box with walnut, 2020.
What are you currently working on in the studio? How has your work evolved over the years?
The backbone of my current practice is my research for my PhD candidacy. With a focus on landscape, pathways, and wayfaring, I explore the historical bond that we have created with the landscape. My intention is for viewers to empathize with the sites I reveal in my art, spurring stewardship.
A goal is to create prints within a variety of mediums and techniques to expand the definition of what a print can be and to give viewers the opportunity to interpret and reimagine, drawing insight from these recollections of place.
My current body of work involves a merging of materials - paper, ceramic, glass, and wood. These works of art are meant to be immersive; I want the experience you have with my pieces to mimic the feelings and care with which we should be handling our environment.
My work has been continually driven by our environment and the expeditions that I have been lucky to take, both personally and through art residencies. There have been subtle shifts in what landscapes I have highlighted.
Early in my career I had a focus on National Parks. Then my residencies led me to the ice laden areas around the North Pole. With my current research I am diving headlong into the International Appalachian Trail.
You will be teaching A Malleable Process: The Making Of Print with Encaustic November 18 - 19. What does this workshops focus on and what can students expect to leave with?
Much like with my own work, A Malleable Process is about opportunities and what printmaking can bring to new materials. Print is such a versatile medium and is a wonderful companion to encaustic. The goal of this class is to give students experience with several printmaking techniques, including how to use these techniques with encaustic paint and Pigment Sticks®. We will rework prints multiple times during the workshop to create thoughtful and layered finished pieces.
The beauty of both print and encaustic is that if something does not turn out exactly as you have envisioned, it can become the beginning of a completely new work. Students will leave with a large series of prints and several print plates.
None of the techniques taught require the use of a press, so any home studio can absorb what is learned for continued development.
Kate Collyer, Untitled, 8” x 11”, Pigment Stick® found material monoprint with linocut and Pigment Stick® drawing, 2019.
What keeps you motivated in the studio? What is your typical studio day like? What's next on your horizon?
I am never not learning and exploring. There is always a new place to see and new materials to play with. Translating the beauty and phenomena that make up the landscapes around us is always new to me. Exploring new techniques is one of my vices, for sure. Perpetually staying a student and continuing my education keeps me motivated. I have found that I do my best work and am my most prolific when I have research I am responsible for. To also have critical eyes on my process, for me, is invaluable.
Kate Collyer, Iceland I & II, 2” x 3”, encaustic monotype on silk tissue with toner transfer, 2018.
The ability to continue my own education and to have a home printmaking, glass, and encaustic studio is an immense privilege. I have a young daughter so my studio days are very disjointed. I spend a large number of small bits of time working each day. I break down my making into smaller tasks so that I move forward, while only getting a half an hour to work at a time (babies are wonderful, but not for studio time...). This gives me inactive time to develop my works and troubleshoot as I go, which has been nice. I do a lot of planning for all of my pieces, so my making is very intentional and methodical.
I am currently making work for two big exhibitions. One, at the end of this year, is a group show with my art collective, Boundary Walkers, at Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn. For much of next year I will have work in a solo exhibition at Sheridan College in Wyoming.
Anything else you'd like our readers to know?
Both encaustic and printmaking can get frustrating, especially when you are new to the materials and processes. The beauty of both of these and what I will highlight in my workshop are the possibilities. It is a liberating moment when you don't like what you just made, but immediately start thinking about what it CAN be.
To learn more about Kate and see additional images of her work, visit katecollyer.com.
To register for A Malleable Process: The Making Of Print with Encaustic visit rfpaints.com/workshops.