STRAIGHT TALK
with Kate MacDowell
By Danielle McCloskey
Contributor
DM: Having formal training in English, teaching, and literature, you came back to the United
States through Italy after living in India for a
year and a half. It was after that you felt the urge
to sculpt. How has the process been leaping deep
into the art world, head first?
online) led to many other opportunities,
both to exhibit my sculptures and license the
images for editorial and illustrative purposes.
I do struggle with the isolation of working
as an independent artist who isn’t teaching
or associated with a university. I miss human
contact and have tried a variety of approaches from having interns to doing residencies
and classes to be able to have colleagues.
KM: I think I’ve been very lucky. My early
brightly colored pieces led to a first offer of
an exhibit, and the porcelain work I created
for that exhibit (once the images circulated
DM: You touch on different topics in regards to
mankind’s coexistence and impact on nature. How
do you flesh out the subject matter on each piece? Is
there one particular topic you gravitate toward?
Skin Changers closet (2015). Installation, size variable (alligator is
34” x 12” x 3” for scale). Hand-built porcelain, cone 6 glaze.
Photographer Dan Kvitka. All images courtesy of the artist.