Galleries - April 2025

beautiful or arresting or calming or exciting and it’s connected to nature and what we see and that’s why it works.” Although her paintings are abstract, there are discernible figures. These silhouette shapes appeared after the death of her mother, who was a great encourager of her art, and they feel like her mother’s presence in her works. There are also outlines of windows and doors, inspired by the work of painters like Edward Hopper, Henri Matisse and Willem De Kooning whose art contains a lot of structure and architecture. Ivon Hitchens is another important influence. Water is another inspiration, as well as walking, listening to the rain, or being enthralled by music. “I like that visceral feeling of how I blend into nature. It’s my experience of being alive,” says Scott. While many of her works are in greens and blues, ‘Summer Song’ is made up of pinks and rich yellowy orange colours, giving a sense of the physical warmth of femininity without being sickly or pretty. ‘Changeling’ has been at least three different paintings in its lifetime, transitioning from bright green, to encompassing a scarlet tooth shape, to a powdery pastel pink coming in from the side to disrupt the work. “From a painterly point of view I’m reminding you this is a painting and I’m not trying to create a sense of reality, it's raw and I want you to look at the materials and be aware that it’s my hand making them.” Born and brought up in Brighton, after attending BHASVIC Sixth Form College, Scott was accepted onto the art foundation course in Hastings, studying under Rod Harman who was “the most amazing teacher” and encouraged her to go on to do a fine art degree. Scott studied at North East London Polytechnic (now the University of East London), where she got the only first in her year. After that she returned to Brighton to do a Masters in Fine Art in printmaking, but painting remained her passion. Having children and working as a counsellor for a women’s health charity, followed by caring for her father, meant there was a hiatus in her art, but around ten years ago she returned to it in earnest. She has exhibited in numerous group shows, but ‘Crossing Over’ is her first solo show since 1997. Kate Scott – ‘Crossing Over’ runs from 19 th March to 3 rd May 2025 at the Meiklejohn Gallery in Lewes. For more information, please contact Claire Meiklejohn. claire.m@meiklejohn.co.uk meiklejohngallery.co.uk Meiklejohn Gallery, 1 Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RA +44 (0)7847 190 494 @meiklejohngallery @kate_scott_paintings