Internationally renowned sculptor Kate MccGwire talks to Jane McGowan about feathers, family and finding success...
Kate MccGwire is one of the UK’s most original and acclaimed contemporary sculptors.
Her work has graced the hallowed halls of historic homes and galleries the world over, and has been hailed as “mesmerising” and “enthralling”. Pieces sell for upwards of £10,000 and fans include scientist and prolific art collector Thomas Olbricht and advertising mogul Charles Saatchi.
Her iconic installations, ranging from Sasse/Sluice to Menagerie, are all crafted using feathers and are created in her studio, a converted, 112-year-old Dutch barge moored on the River Wey.
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“I have always made things with natural objects,” she explains. “I find everyday things intriguing. Just walking my dog in Bushy Park I began to notice how the feathers on the ground changed with the seasons. I am a collector so I would take a bag with me and feathers just happened to be something I collected.
“When I bought my barge which was originally moored near Hampton, there were huge industrial buildings which housed hundreds of pigeons. Their feathers were everywhere and I began picking them up, layering them and noticing all the beautiful colours. I decided I wanted to work with them, but there wasn’t enough so I got in touch with some racing pigeon enthusiasts all over the country and asked them to send me the discarded feathers via self-addressed envelopes.”
Brought up in Norfolk, Kate had long been fascinated by the avian world and would spend hours watching the birds around the boatyards preen and tend their feathers.
“The colours and the movement captivated me and I would then go home and describe things in detail to my parents. I was a bit of a nerdy child,” she laughs.
After studying art as a teenager, Kate worked successfully as an interior designer. Then, aged 31 and with a six-week-old baby in tow, she decided to return to education, enrolling on a five-year fine art course at Farnham School of Art.
“It was part-time which meant I could look after my family,” she explains. “I loved being with the children but art gave me a bit of sanity. Attending lectures was made more complicated by the fact that I was still breastfeeding. But studying meant I was around for them. I made everything on the kitchen table and I worked after they went to bed at night. It was do-able. And I do feel proud as I was the only one in my year at Farnham to get a first. I am dyslexic so was pleased to have got through a degree and to have done it well.”
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Up until that point, Kate had thought any future career would involve drawing or painting, but after studying different techniques, modules and media at the Surrey college, she discovered a love for sculpture.
“I was using mainly fabric – folding and pleating, making it into fleshy things. I made a 4m-high dress out of smocked curtain lining for my final piece.”
After completing her degree, Kate won a place to study for an MA at the prestigious Royal College of Art. While there she created a 5m x 7m spiral installation out of 27,000 chicken wishbones.
“A lot of the things I make take a bit of brainstorming,” she laughs. “So I thought to myself, ‘Okay, who is going to have a good stock of chicken wishbones?’ I decided upon Indian and Chinese restaurants and got in touch with a couple to ask about their poultry suppliers. I would go to Smithfield Market and collect boxes of fleshy bones which I would then boil up and clean.”
Kate admits that while her passion for sculpture was growing, her years at the Royal College left her wondering whether she could make her way in the art world.
“It was a funny time really,” she recalls. “I was coming up to 40 and I didn’t really know what my place was. I was obviously very different from most of the students. It had been an ambitious move to study there and it left me feeling a bit irrelevant, mainly because I was older.”
Kate needn’t have doubted herself as the night before her final year installation went on show it was bought by none other than Charles Saatchi – advertising guru, gallery owner and serious art world player.
“I had been ready to pack it all up and store it in a box under my bed, but instead I found myself setting it up in the Saatchi Gallery,” she says.
That was in 2004, and Kate has not looked back creating pieces that have both stunned and impressed the art world glitterati. Yet despite her success, she is under no illusions as to how hard it is to maintain a career as an artist.
“If you think about all the thousands of people who go to art college every year and then how many artists you can actually name, it shows you what a hard game it is. I have been really, really lucky over the years and have been part of some amazing exhibitions.
“Many people think being an artist is one of those peaceful, calm, creative careers – and it is all those things, but you have to be on top of it. Trying to win jobs, balancing the books. You have to put the work in.
“I get so much joy out of what I do. I have travelled all over the world and I just think, ‘How lucky am I?’ I feel blessed.”
To find out more about Kate’s work visit katemccgwire.com or follow her on Instagram @kate_mccgwire
