Kate MccGwire.

Emma Elizabeth is a Sydney based freelance commercial stylist & designer, transitioning between, interior design (residential & commercial), art direction, set design, styling, installation, exhibitions, product design…..and loves every minute of her creative cross disciplinary approach. Last year Emma launched her online enterprise The Design Vlog (you may remember my post about is back here), which sees her trotting her way around the international design fair circuit, selecting her favorite pieces and interviewing the amazing creatives behind these finds. – x dana

‘SLICK’ (2011). Antique Fire basket, mixed-media with magpie and crow feathers. Dimensions 250 x 280 x 60 cm.

‘STIGMA’ (2011). Mixed media with Lead and Pigeon tail feathers, framed. Dimensions 48 x 48 x 7 cm.

‘HOAX’ (2011). Mixed media with crow feathers in an antique glass dome. Dimensions 50 x 40 x 40 cm.

On a recent trip to London I had the pleasure of being escorted by a male companion to Pertwee Anderson & Gold Gallery in Soho, to quickly pop my head in on route to the airport. They were setting up for their most recent exhibition ‘HOST’, showcasing a selection of work by artist Kate MccGwire. What a way to spend my last mille seconds in London – Kate’s work is truly breathtaking, it takes the art of taxidermy to a completely other level.

What I love about Kate is that she is a forager, constantly hunting and gathering, painstakingly collecting random feathers. To some this may seem a dirty and almost ferrel past time, yet Kate relishes in the fact that her materials are able to repel and seduce in equal measures.

‘SEPAL III’ (2011). Pigeon feathers on Board, Framed. Dimensions 41 x 41 x 7 cm.

‘FUME’ (2007). Handmade book, burnt. Dimensions 38 x 80 x 13 cm. “In ‘FUME’, Kate literally and metaphorically plays with fire; a hole burnt into the pages of a hand-made book resembles an inverted flower. The unexpected beauty and fragility of the incinerated pages, however, is subverted by the heresy of the action.”

As she hunts, Kate has a set direction in mind. The materials she selects have cultural associations for example: magpies have long been through of as nature’s thieves, crows as bullies and bearers of bad news.

I am off to Europe again soon and I will be straight of the plane and off to Kate’s latest show ‘BOUND’ to be held at All Visual Arts at Omega Place in Kings Cross, where she will showcase more of her spell bounding works incorporating pigeon, mallard, magpie and crows feathers!