Kate Dorrough

Theatre of the River | 2024

River Theatre, 2024, stoneware ceramic with glaze, video, sound. Photography by Julie Slavin
River Theatre, 2024, stoneware ceramic with glaze, video, sound. Photography by Julie Slavin
Theatre of the River. @ St Dominics Prayer Room
The river is a source of fertility, a provider of water and renewal. Kandos historically an industrial town, water was used in the manufacture of cement, a weir blocked the natural flow of the Cudgegong River. This work acknowledges the significance of local waterways, releasing and bringing the river into the town of Kandos. Man-made artificial constructions mimic the natural; textile hangings evoke a theatrical river wonderland, video with voices of the community discuss the ecological significance and river experiences, and participatory theatrical river costumes are offered; whereby we can all become active performers and caretakers of the river.

bio:

Kate Dorrough is a multi-disciplinary artist, represented by Art House Gallery, Sydney, exhibiting since 1996, and holding nineteen solo exhibitions throughout Australia, including numerous group and selected exhibitions. Alongside exhibitions in regional galleries, The Cube, Mosman Art Gallery (2021), Manning Regional Gallery (2019), and the touring exhibition, Heather + Kate Dorrough: Lineage’; Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Manning Regional Gallery, Tamworth Regional Gallery and Ararat Gallery, TAMA (2023/2024). Kate has been selected several times in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, the Refuse Exhibition, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Paddington Art Prize, the Ravenswood Art Prize, Calleen Art Award. Exhibiting installation work at the North Sydney Art Prize and Hidden Rookwood Sculptures. Kate has undertaken numerous residencies; Hill End Artists Residency, Bundanon Trust, NSW, Art Vault Residency, Mildura, The Cite International des Arts, Paris, and La Macina di San Cresci Artist Residency, Italy.

statement:

I’m a multi disciplinary artist based in Sydney. Throughout my art practice I’ve has worked with and around the idea of the landscape, specifically the river. My work explores the river as a totemic and symbolic essence, it is a testimony to the ecological significance of water, the river and the iconic value of river systems. Exhibiting primarily in painting and hand built ceramics my work is a conversation between paint and clay, with its inferred language of layered painterly calligraphic mark making. Recently extending my practice to incorporate installations with textile, video and sound components, drawing my conceptual basis from literature, theatrical and historical sources.

Materials | Mixed media, ceramic, textile, concrete, timber, video
Location | St Dominics Prayer Room
2024 Artists