Story by Simon Barnett
Photos by Judy Tricker
St Kilda artist Kate Drinnan has always felt that if she is
not creating, then it’s like not breathing.
About five years ago, Kate found herself at a crossroad. She took on helping
her husband grow his business, but that also left her with time to explore
being an artist in a more dedicated way.
She had a varied background early where writing was her first creative passion,
so leaving school saw her studying journalism at university. It ended up not
being the right environment for her because she feels she is a very
self-directed learner. “I’d been given a topic and I would become obsessed with
it for a month and so. That put me fairly far ahead of the class so I got
bored,” said Kate.
After some time off, Kate studied web and graphic design which led her into
studying photography part time for four years. “That’s where a lot of the
graphic design and also the nature of my work comes from. It’s got that
grounding in the photography,” said Kate.
Even though Kate has plans with her art, the graphic and web design side pays
her studio rent and does give her some sense of fulfillment.
“What I love about that and it also kind of relates to all my creative work, no
matter what medium I’m working in, is I love connecting and opening up
emotionally with people and understanding what exactly it is that they are
trying to convey on an emotional level rather than a logical level,” said Kate.
“I think that’s where the logo skills come through because I’m able to
understand the essentials of a business and go from there.”
So, where did her style come from? “I work in seascapes, but the materials that
I use are quite varied, so I can use anything from recycled jeans through to
felted wool and found objects,” said Kate. “I have lived in Port Phillip for
fifteen years now and it’s that feeling that you get when you cross the road
and walk over the sea wall and all the urban environment becomes irrelevant,
but it’s also like the interplay between those. So, it’s seascapes with a story
basically.”
Although Kate frames many of her pieces, she wants people to touch her art. She
enjoys creating free hanging more so that people can interact with them,
something she encourages.
“I think working in textiles and fibres is a little bit of a … I’m going to
swear … fuck you to the digital age … a kind of a balance to that. You know
it’s digital not very tactile, it’s quite smooth and cold,” said Kate.
Kate believes when people fall in love with art, it’s
usually they’ve fallen in love emotionally rather than “that’s pretty and
it will go really well with my couch.” But that’s art at the end of the
day.
“It depends on the pieces, I think people can relate to the feelings in
them,” said Kate. Working in deconstructed denim and thrifted
clothing does have its challenges. “I saw this really great video of an
artist called Ian Berry and he only works in denim and he said it’s actually
quite tricky to get people to get it, to get past the kitsch of it or the
gimmick of it and actually get into the piece. So, I find that quite
challenging because it is a different medium to be working in.”
“The body of work in itself is work-in-progress at the moment, so there’s still
some other elements of the story that I’m starting to work into the pieces,
said Kate. “Personally, I don’t think I’m expressing exactly what I want yet,
that constant dichotomy in the urban and natural environments that we get in
Port Phillip.”
Kate sometimes feels she is an emerging artist but she is planning her first
exhibition and hopes to be a full-time artist with a gallery in the front and a
workshop at the back.
“I haven’t been in the industry for very long … I like to pick really hard
things to do apparently, I think only sadists decide to become artists. It’s a
tough gig and it’s kind of 70% discipline, 20% luck and 10% percent creative,”
laughs Kate
Her current body of work is called ‘No Safe Harbours’.
https://www.texturedlife.com.au/
