Residency 17/7/24 -17/8/24
My current work is based on knowing trees, collaborating with them, recording the wonders of these arboreal beings. There are so many thematic elements to know; the buds, the leaves, the bark, the branches, the berries, the seeds, the sap, the galls, the invertebrate life that the tree supports, the mammals, the birds, the spirit of the tree.
I value my practice of deep immersive studies of these constituents, recording phenomenological discoveries, sketching and writing, and making models with natural materials – leaves, twigs, earth, daub clay – to bring attunement and attention to the creation of my ongoing sculptural works.
These works may comprise multiples of leaves or branches; compiled, linked into segments of cast bronze; textured steel welded into forms evocative of arboreal beings; stone elements bearing marks that offer atmosphere to their physical presence, changing the inner life into an outer event as a sculpted object.
This event, the materialization of a sculptural construct, can be regarded as a performance that can be recorded, capturing the transience of growth.
Kate Oram
Kate Oram was born and raised in Ireland and moved to England to achieve a Bachelor’s degree in Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics in Brighton in 1991. After thirty years in the studio producing finely crafted bronze and stone sculpture, in 2021 she completed an MA in Creative Practice at IT Sligo during which she engaged with new processes, exploring the depths of her connection to the landscape. Her work has evolved towards a more conceptual, ecologically-focused art practice, allowing the creative forces of nature to shape her work.
Kate channels this creativity towards a focus on ecological concern, using her practice to explore ‘ecovention’, or art action to transform ecologies.
Kate has recently collaborated with three local primary schools, engaging the children in place, space and nature through mind mapping, field studies of plants/trees/leaves, meditative drawing-in-nature sessions and clay workshops in the classroom.
Exhibitions include King House, Boyle Arts Festival 2012-2019, 2021, 2022, 2023; Sculpture in Context, Botanic Gardens, Dublin 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 (online), 2021, 2022, 2023; Ballymaloe Sculpture Exhibition, Co. Cork, 2018; Sculpture at the Castle, Blarney, Co. Cork 2019, 2023; Walking Keshcorran, Tread Softly Festival, Sligo, 2021.