Hello, I’m Kate Livingstone.
In my Edinburgh studio I work across painting, print and printed textiles to make work for exhibitions, projects, and commissions. I have collaborated with and been supported by organisations including Fruitmarket, Creative Scotland, Applied Arts Scotland, The Barns-Graham Trust, Edinburgh Printmakers, The Society of Scottish Artists and Anthropologie.
Please get in touch if you have a commission, collaboration or project to discuss.
My work is an exploration of pattern in its many forms and inspired by impressions of colour, surface and materiality in the world around me. Imagery I collect or create through drawing is deconstructed, recycled, repeated and layered many times across different works, linking paintings, textiles and print designs together. The pieces I make are always filled with colour and rich in surface detail. The intense visual intricacy of my work evidences the absorbing and meditative experience of it’s making.
I have an interest in the abstract possibilities to be found in painting patterned fabric. Describing mass, volume and movement, the material qualities of surface embellishment, and the variations of light and design observable when patterned fabric is folded, scrunched and manipulated. I have made work exploring pattern distortions in painting, print and digital mediums, as well as some three-dimensional work involving hand painted fabrics. As themes around patterned fabric reoccurred in my painting work, making a move towards designing printed textiles was a natural progression for me, and this has been the focus of my recent projects.
Textiles inhabit our environment and adorn our bodies, so thoughtfully designed printed textiles can have a joyful impact on our lives. For this reason I have begun designing beautiful and functional printed textile accessories. These wearable art objects embody the same qualities as my paintings but can be used and carried along with people in their everyday lives.
Eduction and achievements ︎︎︎
MFA Contemporary Art Practice - Edinburgh College of Art - 2016
BA Hons Painting - Edinburgh College of Art - 2011
Short Course Textile Collection Design - Central St Martins UAL - 2022
Short Course Digital Textile Design - Central St Martins UAL - 2020
Visual Art and Craft Makers Award, Edinburgh - 2022
Edinburgh Creative Development Bursary - 2022
Uppercase Magazine Surface Pattern Design Guide - 2021
Visual Art and Craft Makers Award, Edinburgh - 2019
The Barns-Graham Trust Travel Award - 2016
The Society of Scottish Artists New Graduate Award - 2016
Longlisted for The John Moores Painting Prize - 2016
Selected exhibitions and projects ︎︎︎
2022
Throw It All Away - window exhibition - 24 Hour Window, Glasgow
Chaos in the Cosmos Garden Party - exhibition and art market - Leith Arches, Edinburgh
Heliotrope - solo exhibition - Upright Gallery, Edinburgh
Featured Artist in ‘Writers’ Shift’ - a publication by Fruitmarket
Writers’ Shift Drawings - exhibition - Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, as part of the project ‘Writers’ Shift’ at Fruitmarket (2020-2022)
2021
Artist participant in DISTANCE - a project investigating immersive digital technologies by Applied Arts Scotland
2020
Kaleidoscopic - solo exhibition - Flamingosaurus Rex, Edinburgh
2019
And The Sky Fell With It - solo exhibition - The Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
2018
20/20 – exhibition - Upright Gallery, Edinburgh
Crystalline – exhibition - Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh
Scaling the Heights - exhibition - Durham Oriental Museum, Durham
Artobotic – Contributing artist, Edinburgh
2017
Bonkers Contemporary - exhibition - The Biscuit Factory, Edinburgh
Half Life - solo exhibition - Upright Gallery, Edinburgh
The New Laboratory: ESAF - exhibition - Custom Lane, Leith
Don Salon - exhibition - Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2016
SSA Annual Exhibition - Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
ECA MFA Degree Show - Edinburgh College of Art
Drawing on Drawing - exhibition - Edinburgh College of Art Sculpture Court
Salonathon - exhibition - Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2015
Water On Mars - exhibition - The Number Shop, Edinburgh
Interim - exhibition - Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
A World of Ego Close to the Gods - exhibition - Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
To Court - exhibition - Gayfield Creative Spaces, Edinburgh
Space - exhibition - Kalopsia Gallery, Edinburgh
Salontology - exhibition - Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2014
Paint Like You Mean It - exhibition and painting prize - Interview Room 11, Edinburgh
2013
'Mandala' mural painting for Anthropologie - Westfield Centre, London
The Uneasiness of Graceful Movement - solo exhibition- St Andrew’s and St Georges West Church, George Street, Edinburgh
'Reef' mural painting for Anthropologie - George Street, Edinburgh
By the Way They Hang and Turn - The Old Ambulance Depot, Edinburgh - exhibiting artist and curator