Kat Blockley: A Common Treasury

Venue

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Venue Facilities

Artist statement

Kat archives the interface of tradition and modernity in everyday life; her shoebox files are fertile ground for works in stitch, print, paint and song that emerge from the archive to take their place within A Common Treasury. View Kat’s work at THG. Kat’s studio is also open Sundays 11-17:00: Applewood, 2 End Cottages, Talaton, EX5 2RJ.

Extended Bio

With stitch, paint, print and song, Kat archives the interface of tradition and modernity in everyday life. Kat’s practice begins with the serendipitous collecting of news cuttings, photographs, prints and drawings. The collection and archiving of seemingly random items in her shoebox files is fuelled by Kat’s engagement with tradition, memory, nostalgia and her fascination with the ways the ephemeral and eternal intermingle. Subjectively cataloguing both the familiar and idiosyncratic Kat mines her collection to create intricate stitchwork pieces, expressive prints, paintings, songs and illustrations under the title ‘A Common Treasury’. Drawing viewers in to explore reminders of cultural shifts, Kat asks us to take a closer look and consider where the thresholds lie between what we venerate, criticise and ridicule. This acknowledging of threads of continuity through conversation between old and new and the discovery of the exceptional in the everyday invites viewers to wonder, connect, critique, and smile in recognition as they are beguiled by vignettes from life.