LCN Story: Artist Kate Terry

Kate Terry is an artist whose work explores architectural space, geometry, balance and colour. Working with site-specific thread installations, she draws from the rigorous regularity of Minimalism and the basic tenets of symmographic craft constructions, her works explore the interplay of the handcrafted in relation to repetitious and serial forms and gestures. Her sculptures, using painted wood, steel, perspex and more recently brass, consider concerns of weight and presence with direct emphasis on their physicality, with often balanced and open geometric shapes. Currently, she is developing new works for sculpture gardens and the public realm.

She recently had a solo exhibition, ‘A System of Parallels’ at the public gallery Broadway Gallery, in Letchworth, U.K. (2018). Other solo exhibitions include ‘Suspended Space’ at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, USA (2017), ‘Alpha Beta’ Volker Diehl Cube, Berlin (2016), ‘Open Forms’ at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (2013).

She teaches Sculpture and Drawing & Conceptual Practice at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon, part of the University of the Arts London. She has co-curated a large exhibition of sculpture with another artist, Tim Ellis, called New Relics which runs from 1 -24 June 2018 at Thameside Gallery, London.

What new product or project are you introducing to your practice and why?
I am developing new ideas for sculptures that will exist outdoors in sculpture gardens as a new avenue for my practice. At this early stage of the LCN programme, I am still developing ideas and considering technical solutions and am looking forward to doing the welding induction at Blackhorse Workshops. I did a lot of welding on my sculpture degree, and my degree show incorporated a lot of welded steel, but after a 20-year abstinence, I’m a little rusty but keen to use it again! I am still developing ideas for works and enjoying discussing and exploring material possibilities. The LCN 2-2-1s and crits have been a great opportunity to discuss the materials I could work with. Also, it’s been great to talk with other sculptors discussing the merits of stainless steel or aluminum or the pros and cons of jesmonite or fiberglass.

What was the main motivation behind your application to the LCN programme?
I’d been thinking about making some outdoor work for a while and I’ve been waiting for the right time to invest the time and energy to focus on it. I applied to the LCN programme as I wanted to devote a solid block of time to develop my ideas and I wanted to use the support within LCN as a means of focussing my project and helping to resolve technical questions. I previously did the NCM programme, which I also found really interesting and useful. With both NCM and LCN it’s been interesting meeting so many new people and learning more about their projects through crits, workshops and the Chit-chat event last month.

What is the most useful advice or tips you’ve been given on the programme so far?
I found a recent goal-setting workshop with Patricia Van Der Akker really useful to help me really consciously focus on what my ambitions are and to balance between thinking big and being realistic. I also found the 2-2-1 sessions really helpful: having two people just focusing on helping me develop my project was incredibly useful. I loved the level of technical details I went into with Levin Haegele and how much I learned about public commissions from Kathrin Böhm. It was good talking to them to prompt me into whom else I should talk to and ask advice of. I’ve since had several conversations with other artists and gallerists that have also been invaluable.

What plans do you have after participating with LCN?
I’m planning to show my work in a sculpture garden next year, and hope to build a sustainable arm of my practice to make more outdoor sculptures. I then plan to assess and potentially develop proposals for larger commissions within the public realm. Alongside developing my outdoor works, I am also working on getting my studio more kitted out to develop more works using brass, which I used for the first time in my recent solo show at the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth.