I hope you can enjoy my recent ‘spotlight’ #twinterviews with the “brilliant” #untitled10 artists currently exhibiting at The Bowes Museum until Feb 28th. Each artist has responded to the museum and collection in a unique way with an emphasis on craft and making. Kate Ive is an award-winning artist and sculpts and carves by hand on both a monumental and minute scale with an incredible eye for detail and intricacy. Kate works in a wide range of materials including bronze, concrete, lead, jesmonite, wax, Corten steel, metal mesh and light filters.
Talkin' Culture ran these twitter interviews for @thebowescentre.
Kate Ive #twinterview transcript
Thank you for joining us today Kate @kate_ive for your lunchtime #twinterview with @talkinculture Q1 You have sculpted incredibly intricate work for your #untitled10 commission @thebowesmuseum. What drew you to time and the challenge of #3D in your craft process?
Kate @kate_ive A1 Thanks for inviting me! I have loved working on #untitled10 with @thebowesmuseum In my work I am drawn to tiny intricate details and the museum is full of finely crafted items. With a particular interest in #guilloché patterns... I was immediately drawn to the founders’ finely engraved pocket watches, which in turn presented the theme of time in the museum. It was then a case of visualising & experimenting with ‘extruding’ the patterns I created in response to the museum, into #3d form for #untitled10
Kate @kate_ive Q2 You have an impressive range of diverse and award winning work. What appealed to you about the #untitled10 commission @thebowesmuseum that offered a new opportunity? #twinterview @talkinculture
Kate @kate_ive A2 The last few years I’ve mainly worked on public art commissions. #untitled10 really appealed to me as it presented a unique opportunity to work with the museum & its collection in a most unusual way. The brief was open ended... It offered the 10 participating artists time to explore the collection and make new work without any set parameters about what that might be & specifically asked for the work to be unfinished. Quite unique! It put the emphasis on the process and tied in perfectly with my new work. It allowed me time and support to focus on the processes and techniques involved in making a new body of work without worrying about what the end result would be. Pressure was off and making was on! #untitled10
Kate @kate_ive Q3 How would you like to see museums like @thebowesmuseum include a bigger relationship with artists and makers to show their collections or objects in new ways? #twinterview #untitled10 @talkinculture
Kate @kate_ive A3 #untitled10 it shows a snapshot of how collections like this speak to artists in such different ways. It reflects the importance of maintaining historic collections whilst opening doors to artists creating new work... Projects like this breathe new life into established collections creating tangible links between past & present makers. The thought of more museum developing programmes of new work alongside old is incredibly exciting. Through research and experimentation, imagine the hidden museum gems that might be brought back into the spotlight showcased alongside fresh new work 🤩 #untitled10
Kate @kate_ive Q4 Did working with ‘John & Joséphine’s Timepieces’ have any particular poignancy for you? #twinterview #untitled10 @talkinculture @thebowesmuseum
Kate @kate_ive A4 Yes! Especially the personal history of John & Joséphine Bowes. Their pocket watches hanging side by side in the museum symbolised their relationship/drive for me. I wanted to capture their ‘togetherness through time’ in my artwork. Their pocket watches made me think about the passage of time &how we record it. Particularly inspiring & unforeseen! This has led me to develop a new visual language for recording the intangible, something that I am continuing to explore beyond this project in new work #untitled10
Kate @kate_ive Q5 How would you like visitors to explore your work who may be new to sculpture, horology and @thebowesmuseum? #untitled10 #twinterview @talkinculture
Kate @kate_ive A5 It is important to get up close. I hope people will take a minute to really look at my work. It is through looking carefully at the intricate/fine details that the work reveals how it has been made and alludes to a deeper meaning. Through sharing my research I hope visitors can connect with the ideas and processes behind it. I hope they will question how it is made (hand-turned), why I’ve chosen these materials (wax/copper) and what the ideas are behind it (recording time). Visitors might relate the 2 timepiece sculptures back to John & Joséphine Bowes’ pocket watches. Linking them together across gallery spaces and exploring the rest of the collection with a heightened interest in the fine details that make the Bowes’ collection so rich #untitled10
Thank you very much Kate @kate_ive for your #twinterview with @talkinculture today, feel free to add in any final thoughts. Followers you can see more of Kate’s work here: http://www.kate-ive.uk/ The #untitled10 2019 are in exhibition until Feb 28th.
Kate @kate_ive Thanks so much for having me! For anyone that’s yet to see the exhibition, get along and check it out at The Bowes Museum 👀
Paula Moore, Director of Talkin’ Culture is interested in how access to arts and museum spaces can be widened to far wider audiences through different entry points and with alternative visitor experience routes. I believe traditional museum experiences are often too static, austere and often rigidly academic failing to respond as a public service. I hope you enjoy my #twinterviews and artist insights to explore this further.
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