Kate Downie facts for kids

Kate Downie (born in 1958) is a talented artist from Scotland, originally from the United States. She creates amazing artworks using painting, printmaking, and drawing. Kate is especially famous for her beautiful landscape paintings. Her art can be seen in major public galleries in Glasgow.

Kate was born in North Carolina, USA, in 1958. Her father was Scottish and her mother was English. When she was seven years old, her family moved to Scotland. She studied art in Aberdeen, Scotland. After her studies, she worked in different countries, including the United States and Holland. Today, Kate lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is well-known for her art that shows the Scottish landscape. She uses many different materials for her art, like oil and acrylic paints, ink, collage, and a printing method called lithography.

Kate Downie's Artistic Journey

From 2004 to 2006, Kate Downie was the President of the Society of Scottish Artists. This is a big role that helps support other artists in Scotland. In 2005, she was chosen as a finalist for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, which is a special award for drawing.

In the late 2000s, Kate started a project called "Coast Road Diaries." For two years, she traveled all around Scotland, creating art about her journey. These artworks were shown in a traveling exhibition that people really loved.

Exploring New Art Forms

Kate is a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, a group of very skilled artists. In 2010, she traveled all the way to China to learn about ink painting. She went back to China in 2011 and again in 2013 to continue her studies. The artworks she made during these trips were displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute's Kelly Gallery.

In 2014, Kate had a special job as an artist-in-residence at the Forth Road Bridge. She was asked to create art to celebrate the bridge's 50th birthday. Kate said her job was like having "an in-depth interview" with the bridge. She wanted to gather ideas and information for her artwork. She even climbed to the very top of the bridge! For two months, she worked in a temporary studio right under the bridge.

Artworks and Recognition

Journalist Jan Patience described Kate's art as "sure, deft and fearless." This means her art is confident, skillful, and brave. Some of Kate Downie's artworks are kept in the Glasgow Museums. These include paintings of people, like 12 Minute Baby (from 1993). She also paints city scenes, such as Blue Night, Yellow Roof (from 1991).

Recent Adventures and Exhibitions

In late September 2014, Kate Downie went on a three-month trip to Australia and Japan. She was researching river systems, estuaries (where rivers meet the sea), and bridges near the western Pacific Ocean. This research led to a big solo art show called Estuary in Edinburgh in April 2015.

In the same month, she also had a two-person show called "Drawing on the Landscape" at Cobalt Contemporary in Pittenweem. Important newspapers like The Times and The Scotsman, and the magazine Studio International, wrote reviews about both of these exhibitions.