Artist interview: Kate Atkin

Lady Worthington and I were meandering around Hoxton Square, when we were transfixed by some of the most intricately detailed and entrancing large-scale pencil drawings we’d seen. Upon further investegation, we assertained that we’d not only  stumbled across an exhibition by the immensely tallented Kate Atkin but were lucky enough to be talking to her as well.

Before long we were back in the gallery being treated to a Beer (me) and an Orange Juice (the lady). This time we were ready to shoot the breeze about art, life and the nature of creativity with the ever-so-obliging and lovely Kate.

How would you describe your style?

Actually, I wouldn’t describe it as a ‘style’ exactly. I think of my work as the result of a research practice. I would describe my work as conceptual but with a strong interest in material. A lot of my works are about the transformation of one thing into another; 3 dimensions into 2 and vice versa, one medium into another, one image recast as something else and so on. Most of my work in the past has been drawing on paper but more recently I have been making sculpture. I mostly work in black and white.

How do you feel you’ve developed since you first started doing what you do?

I started making drawings about 5 years ago. I got halfway through an MA in fine art photography but couldn’t make it work at all. I was failing in every way but then the penny dropped. I started making drawings halfway through that course. It was so great to find a way of working that I felt excited about. I’ve been making sculpture more and more in the last couple of years and that’s the way I’m heading now.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I don’t remember making a decision about it but I always wanted only to make art since I was small. It didn’t occur to me you could be an artist as such. I took art all the way through school and then A-levels, a Foundation course, BA and then an MA. I was so absorbed with doing the next thing I hadn’t really thought how I’d make enough money to live, at the end. It’s still not clear actually. But I’ll only be an artist now.

Who, or what inspires your creativity?

I’m interested in all sorts of things…. But, you know, the usual. Books, music, art, science. I like reading monthly magazines that come out on all sorts of subjects. Like National Geographic and Cabinet and Bedeutung.

I like visiting places too. I was hanging about a lot at the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich a couple of years ago. I started finding seams of things I was interested in, and being able to go there to those places and physically follow them along was exciting. Rather than looking them up on the internet, I mean. There’s an amazing old library down at the NMM, which you can become a member of if you’ve got a particular thing you want to ‘research’ (although it doesn’t have to be as grand as that sounds). I was looking at all these weird little books about the discovery of new islands… and then I started thinking about the exploration of space in a ‘new frontier’ sort of way… and that’s lead me to an idea for a new project which has been brewing for a while and which I hope to expand for my next show.

When do you know that a piece is finished?

Hard to tell really. I do always spend a lot of time on my work though so I have plenty of time to think about the end while it’s still in progress. Usually I can see when it’s going to be done and I finish a day or two early when it’s still got some air in it.

Your work is massively technical and detailed, are you compelled to be very labour intensive to feel you’ve really worked at it?

Exactly. I find it hard to make work that is quick and feel it has any value at the end. That’s my problem…. Maybe it will change though.

Your work always starts from a photograph. Do you have a special process that you go through from collecting imagery to producing a work?

That’s another rather tricky thing to explain. Although, saying that, I don’t just take millions of pictures without an idea driving it. I’m quite focused about what I’m looking for, once I’ve started thinking about a project. I only take pictures that I feel might somehow be relevant or sometimes the odd one that is so wrong it helps me talk about what I was actually trying to do… sometimes I trawl back through the images I’ve gathered and find only one that seems to work. Sometimes I have a few more but it’s rarely more than a handful. Then I make small ‘studies’, which are relatively quick to do and are a way of trying the idea out. I choose one ‘study’ and then work from that to make the final piece. I find making work can be very chaotic. By giving myself these sorts of stages to work through, I can usually find some sense in all the material I’ve gathered.

Do you have any pearls of wisdom for any aspiring artists or creative types?

Here’s some pearls for you; the hardest part is starting. If you start something today it will be a million times easier to carry on tomorrow. When I’m starting a new drawing I usually get out my paper, tape it down, sharpen my pencils, then just go for it for 10 minutes and then stop for the day. In the morning it’s so much easier to continue, even if you have to rub it all out because it’s rubbish and start again. Basically, just start and then after that, keep going. It doesn’t matter what it is.

Thank you ever so kindly Kate for taking the time. x

posted: December 22nd, 2009 | by: tomagotchi | perma: link | tags: drawing, interview, kate atkin | 1 Comment »

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