Page 6 - The Digital Cloth issue 2

Kathryn recently visited
Australia and travelled
extensively to teach her Art
Textiles…we were lucky enough to
meet Kathryn and have her teach in
Urunga NSW and take time out to have
a chat with us about her work and
visit to Australia….

What was your earliest influences in
your Art Journey?
I have always been able to draw
(starting so young that I cannot
remember the beginnings of this
skill). To this day, whether I am
painting, sculpting or sewing, I am
always drawing. I still rely on my
sketches as a source for my artwork.

Where do you live and work?
I live in South Africa just outside
a town called East London, in a
seaside village called Kwelera Mouth
– I can watch the whales blowing
from my studio windows.

Family story if you want to share!
I studied for a BAFA but ran away
with a handsome musician before
completing my degree. I lived in a
caravan for a couple of years, had 2
beautiful babies and lived the life
of a travelling hippy for a while. I
remember lugging my sewing
machine to the communal wash rooms
in order to sew (the only
electricity source). To this day, I
have a deep dislike of caravans!

Kathryn Kathryn your Textile Art pieces are

so lush and rich in thread and
layers what inspires you?
Light. I think it is the way light
falls on anything; sometimes it
wraps itself around the pinkly
exposed ears of a rabbit and at
Harmer Fox wire-haired snout of a pig. I go
other times it rests upon the

through phases, where the glorious
animals of Africa have to be
rendered in thread and then, at
other times, it is the human body