Kate Small

Painter Kate Small’s new exhibition, ‘Welcome to Holland’ was due to open at Anna Miles Gallery two days after lockdown... so for now the paintings can be seen online only.

Anna caught up with Kate at her Masterton home where she is currently teaching Wairarapa College art students via Zoom. 

Kate’s paintings bring together her fascination with colour and an unusual level of feeling for the ordinary rituals of domestic life. It was as a student at Elam School of Fine Arts that her lush form of abstract expressionism first became populated. There were two key sources for the original figures in the paintings — Eadweard Muybridge’s C19th photographic studies of figures carrying buckets and brooms, and 1960s Jantzen tog advertisements.  Some things never change — 30 years on and the tog-wearing inhabitants of Kate's ‘Welcome to Holland’ paintings are still accessorised by the accoutrements of housework (mops, rakes, vacuum cleaners and the occasional front loading washing machine). 

Kate was delighted to find the Everyday Needs site has a whole section devoted to ‘Housekeeping’. A number of colourful and utilitarian items soon caught her eye. If a grey dustpan turns up in a Kate Small painting, you’ll know where it came from.

1. New Zealand Crayons

This packet of stripes is hard to resist. My first thought was what more could you want than a set of Te Reo crayons.

2.  Companion x EDN Lawn Lounge Hat

I like the fact that this hat is called ‘lounge'. It is a very nice shade of pink with a generous brim perfect for a Masterton summer.

3. Stainless Steel Thermos

I have a soft spot for sturdy Stanley. At art school and ever since I seem to have had a Stanley knife permanently in my pocket. At school my students think its amazing I’m so fast at sharpening pencils and chopping paper . . . It’s all due to Stanley in my pocket.

4. Belgian Linen Tea Towel // Check

Being woven, the checks of this tea towel look ‘layered'. The grid has that slightly transparent quality I’m always aiming for when layering paint.

5. Dustpan and Brush Set 

There is something very attractive to me about the Iris Hantverk Dustpan and Brush set. What a beautiful grey they have produced.