Katie Paterson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katie Paterson
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Katie Paterson, Berlin 2014, photo by Oliver Mark
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| Born | 1981 (age 43–44) Glasgow, United Kingdom
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| Education | Edinburgh College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art |
Katie Paterson (born in 1981) is a talented visual artist from Glasgow, Scotland. She creates amazing artworks that explore ideas about translation, distance, and how big or small things are in the universe. Katie has studied at top art schools, including Edinburgh College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. She is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
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Katie Paterson's Art Projects
Katie Paterson is known for her unique art projects that often connect with science and nature. She makes art that helps us think about our planet and the vast universe.
Art Inspired by Glaciers
Katie has created several projects about melting glaciers. One of her early works, Vatnajökull (the sound of), was very creative. She placed a microphone in a lagoon under Europe's largest glacier. People could call a mobile phone number and listen to the sounds of the melting ice!
Another project, Langjökull, Snaefellsjökull, Soheimajökull, also used glacier sounds. For this, she made special music records (LPs) out of ice. This ice was made from water from melting glaciers. When played, these ice records created a unique soundscape of the melting ice.
Exploring Stars and Darkness
Katie also looks to the stars for her art. In one project, she made a map showing 27,000 stars that are no longer alive.
Her work History of Darkness is also fascinating. She showed many 35 mm slides, each labeled with a different point in the universe. You could pick up these slides and hold them up to the light. Each slide showed how many light-years away that point was from Earth. Even though they were from different places, all the images looked almost completely dark. This showed how vast and empty space can be.
Future Library Project
One of Katie's most famous projects is the Future Library project, which started in August 2014. This is a very special artwork that will last for 100 years! In a forest near Oslo, Norway, 1,000 trees were planted. Each year, a famous writer will write a new book. These books will be kept secret and unread until the year 2114. Then, the trees will be cut down to print all the books.
Famous writers like Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Sjón, Elif Shafak, and Han Kang have already contributed books to this amazing project. The books are stored in a special room in the new Deichman Public Library.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Katie Paterson's art has been shown in many important art galleries around the world. She has had solo exhibitions at places like Modern Art Oxford and Turner Contemporary in the UK.
In 2014, Katie won a South Bank Sky Arts Award for her visual art. She also sent an artwork to the International Space Station in July 2014! In 2019, Turner Contemporary held a big show of all her artworks. They also launched a new book called A place that exists only in moonlight, which was printed using real cosmic dust!
Awards and Achievements
Katie Paterson has received several awards and honors for her innovative work:
- She was the first artist-in-residence in the Astrophysics Group at University College London (UCL).
- She won the South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2014 for visual art.
- She was named a Leverhulme Fellow at University College London.
- She became an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh in 2013.
- She received the Spirit of Scotland Award in 2014.
