I am a printmaker and painter based in Sheffield. I have painted for many years using a variety of media and I continue to draw regularly. In 2012, I was introduced to Printmaking and this is now the main focus of my artistic practice. Much of my current artwork uses Linocut printmaking. Other techniques that I use include collagraph, woodcut and drypoint.
Current themes in my artwork are inspired by the landscape. I love the natural environment, both land and sea. Living in Sheffield, we are close to the Peak District and particularly to Stanage Edge, which is popular with both walkers and climbers.. My linocut prints often feature crags, edges and rugged places. The rocks and cliff edges stand out from the moorlands and rise from the rugged terrain, just as the cut edges in the lino plates that I make show the block shapes of rocks, the profile of a buttress or line of an escarpement. Smaller cuts and marks into the lino serve to show grasses, vegetation and other landscape elements between the slopes, boulders and stone.
Some of my linocut prints may look closer to painting than a print, in style and appearance. The painterly quality to the work is achieved through layering of translucent colours, colour mixing and use of gradations of tone, to give a sense of the contours and varied colours in the land. I draw heavily on my experience gained through painting and this informs my approach to making my prints.
As well, as capturing the impression and character of the rocks or terrain in my prints, the landscape topography, and particularly the rocky features are shown accurately, such that climbing routes or other specific landscape features can be identified by those viewing my artwork. My close family and many of my friends are climbers. With them I have spent much time walking and exploring the rocky and wild places. This informs my artwork, and I try to incorporate this understanding and what i have learnt about the rocks into the artwork, so that they are meaningful for the climber, walker or mountaineer, and anyone else that has a close relationship with these landscapes.
My work has been exhibited in galleries in Sheffield, London, Bristol, Birmingham, Buxton, Derby, Macclesfield, Barton-on-Humber, Scarborough, Newcastle, Carlisle, and Hull.
I was awarded a funding grant from Arts Council England for a project culminating in an exhibition at the Ropewalk gallery 29/5/21 – 18/7/21.
In 2019 I received a small bursary from Making Ways in Sheffield for developing my printmaking skills.
Prizes include; a runner up award at the North Lincolnshire Open 2019, Air Arts Award in the Derby Print Open 2018, in 2017, I was awarded a Derbyshire County Council Award in the 35th Derbyshire Open Art Exhibition and Commended in 2022 in the 39th Derbyshire Open Art Exhibition .
Prior to, and for a long time alongside my my art practice, I worked as a dentist in general practice in Sheffield, under my maiden name Katherine Lines. I qualified as a dentist in 1988 and practised for 32 years mostly in the NHS. From the end of of 2020 I made the decisiion to completely cease practicing as a dentist, in order to focus fully on my creative and artistic practice.