Kate MccGwire (b. 1964) is a British, London-based artist who spent her childhood growing up on the Norfolk Broads. MccGwire’s early memories of this distinct landscape, dominated by its wetlands, serpentine waterways and the wildlife that lives along the region's waters, form the foundations of her practice, which is inspired by the cycles, patterns and dualities of nature. Taking feathers as her primary medium, Kate MccGwire goes through labour-intensive processes of collecting, sorting and cleaning her materials to create muscular, writhing forms reminiscent of Classical sculpture and creatures from mythology. These abject structures explore dualities of aesthetics, being simultaneously seductive and repulsive; form, being simultaneously organic and abstract; and movement, appearing fluid yet being static. Through her practice, MccGwire celebrates feathers, which are commonly shed or discarded, as the medium through which she articulates enigmatic anatomies that explore physical and introspective space. Situated within a lineage of female artists who have worked with fiber art, soft sculpture and organic material, Kate MccGwire explores form, space and volume through her work. The artist’s hybrid, ’boundary creatures’ (as termed by Dr. Catriona McAra) often fill their framing devices and appear to writhe within them. On this, MccGwire has said, ‘I am interested in the interplay of opposites which runs like a leitmotif through everything I do. It is as if the work needs that tension to create its own internal equilibrium; it is an expression for me of the duality I see all around me and the materials I choose need to be able to physically embody this.’ Kate MccGwire graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Sculpture in 2004 and a BFA from the University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham in 2001. Selected solo exhibitions include Menagerie, Harewood House, Leeds, UK (2020); Dichotomy, The Harley Gallery, Welbeck, UK (2018); Secrete, Galerie Huit, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong (2016); Scissure, La Galerie Particulière, Paris, France (2018); Covert, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France (2014); Lure, Cheongju International Craft Biennale, South Korea (2013); Host, Pertwee, Anderson & Gold, London, UK (2011) and Issue, M2 Gallery, London, UK (2005). Selected group exhibitions include Iris Van Herpen.Sculpting the Senses, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France (2023); Unbreakable: Women in Glass, Fondazione Berengo, Murano, Italy (2020); Bêtes de Scéne, Espace Monte-Cristo, Paris, France (2020); Feathers: Warmth, Seduction, Flight, Gewerbe Museum, Winterthur, Switzerland (2019); Gaïa, What Are You Becoming?, Guerlain House, Paris, France (2019); Summer Exhibition 2019, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK); Painting Still Alive, Centre of Contemporary Art, Toruń, Poland (2018); Without a Label I Feel Freer, Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig, Germany (2018); Doing Identity: The Reydan Weiss Collection, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany (2017); Erwarten Sie Wunder! The...
