KATE FRENCH
Mashed potato to begin with please …
By Lynda Cookson
Kate French was asked to write about herself for a recent exhibition: ‘I wanted at first just to write … “My name is Kate French and I make sculpture” … but then I thought it would look pretty stupid so here goes … I have made things three dimensional for as long as I can remember. I modelled things in mashed potato as a toddler and it remains a passion. If I were to analyse my work I would say that it is about movement. The movement just before and after an object moves. I also hope that it conveys a sensation of joy. Something magical, as I notice that a lot of my work is inspired by Greek legend. This just seems to happen. But then it could simply be organised chaos or Quantum heresy.’
I met Kate in the art gallery she shares with her painter husband Philip, at the end of a colourful walkway of shops above the centre of Kinsale. Before I knew it I had been welcomed into the airy and light gallery with an enthusiastic handshake, and settled comfortably in a chair I thought I may never be able to, or want to, get out of while Kate energetically talked a blue streak about family, health and fitness. Her enjoyment of pilates (breathing exercises), tai chi and yoga flow naturally into her work and are reflected in the physical challenges she attempts with sculpture – like the bronze horse balancing delicately on one hoof. She laughs: ‘I like to challenge engineering. A lot of the things I want to do defy the laws of sculpture.’ But it’s her knowledge and sense of how breath, muscles and state of mind work together as a team, which allows her to bring grace, balance and sensitivity to the movement in her sculpture.
