Kate works with a team of proficient assistants and interns who are drawn to her work and gather around her practice, applying their considerable individual skill base to the work. She refers to herself as the composer and conductor of an orchestra. The studio family is as important to Kate as the objects she makes. The osmosis of knowledge in the studio, the growth of the skills and careers of her interns, apprentices and assistants, and working together on her increasingly ambitious and varied projects with this ever-expanding family fulfils her role within her community – building communities and community spaces through her art being her significant contribution to society.
Faith in the Process
KATE MALONE
In this presentation Kate Malone highlights the four major areas of her practice as a ceramicist and potter – decorative art, public art projects, glaze research, and TV, presenting The Great British Pottery Throwdown. She also talks of how she builds and serves the community through her studios.
Kate’s working philosophy is that of having “faith in the process”. She does not fully plan the outcome of her work in clay before starting on a piece, and choices made during the making process can only be made then. Art making is a series of decisions; each decision in turn affecting the next. The result can be a surprise and is always an intrigue. Kate believes that life is a journey and the spaces between actions are as important as the actions themselves. The lecture covers briefly the impact and inspiration of her numerous visits to India. The purity and exuberance of Indian art and architecture, and the truthfulness of its smallest detail has influenced her work for over thirty years.
Kate Malone is one of the UK’s leading ceramicists with an illustrious career spanning thirty years. She is a regular contributor at specialist art events, and a judge on BBC2’s The Great Pottery Throw Down. Kate has had over ten solo shows, and participated in numerous group shows and art fairs. Her work has been acquired for public and private collections all over the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Arts Council, UK.
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