Kate Clark
Cavity Creatures
PUNCH is super excited to be exhibiting the work of Seattle-based multi-media artist Kate Clark. Painted on glass and panel or cast in clay and aluminum, Kate’s fleshy and precise beings hearken old wisdom and dish silly jokes. In Cavity Creatures, Kate presents a suite of figurative works from the past six years that have emerged alongside the development of larger-scale public art projects. Kate’s studio practice ruminates on the constant reinterpretation that old objects and entities undergo: Paleolithic fertility figures transform into everyday gals wearing boots and hats, a she-wolf rejects her suckling burdens for a night out, and aged women laugh themselves into the center of a folk painted flower.
Much of the work on display explores Kate’s fascination with the sculptural morphing of the human female form. These explorations emerge from Kate’s personal ambivalence with her assigned gender and her deep admiration of women throughout time. Her works often resuscitate female figures found in classical art history, whether it be figurative statuary fountains or the Venus of Willendorf. Some of her paintings adapt feminized craft forms, such as the Nordic tradition of ”rose painting” or Rosemaling. Other paintings, such as her Cavity Dwellers Suite, painstakingly render in miniature the reproductive links between holes in trees and holes in bodies. Kate’s multidisciplinary works reveal moments with mythical entities who may be tucked into tree cavities or curio cabinets.
Kate Clark is a multidisciplinary artist that has developed installations and research projects with organizations such as the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institute, the Bauhaus Institute Weimar, NgBK Berlin, The Oakland Museum of California, The Osage Tribe, the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Park, and 4Culture. She serves as a public art commissioner for the Seattle Design Commission and works with the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture as a Community Engagement Artist in Residence and to help implement a ten-year public art plan she developed for Seattle City Light. Currently, Kate is co-creating an artwork for the Duwamish Longhouse members of the Duwamish Tribe through a commission by The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. Kate received her BA at Evergreen State College, with a focus in studio art, and her MFA in Visual Art at UC San Diego. Based in Seattle, WA, Kate grew up in Anacortes, WA. She loves to city people watch and forage from the bounty of the PNW forests and seas.
www.kateclarkprojects.com
@kateclarkbar
In addition to Kate’s work, our retail space will showcase Karl Schwiesow’s ceramic work. Join us for the opening on Saturday, October 5, noon until 4 pm. Actually, you should probably make a day of it by coming early to experience the Thorp Community Day which kicks off with a Grand Parade and scrumptious, rib-sticking community breakfast hosted by our local fire fighters at the Thorp Fire Station. Flapjacks slinging begins at 8am. Parade commences as 9:30. With the help of Blue Bear Puppet Lab and the Helen-House limousine, PUNCH plans to defend their 2023 1st place float title!
October Events
10/05: Thorp Community Day Grand Parade
[featuring the Blue Bear Puppet Lab]
8-10am
10/12: Live Music!
Cockaphonix
[carnivalesque, saloon, street-punk]
Crazy Eyes
[UFO-abduction piano-punk]
2-4pm
10/19: Live Music!
Dogtown Two
[honky-tonk blues]
2-4pm
10/26 (Last Saturday):
Halloween dance party with DJ Banshee
6-8pm
