Kate Piekutovsky Craft Fair emerging artist

OCTOBER 2017 | Sharon Webb

THERE’S A SECRET code in Kate Piekutowsky’s art that only her friends and family know.

Her very feminine-stylised etchings are grey, their unpredictable, sometimes aggressive lines created with nitric acid on steel plates. But in each one a surprising pop of scarlet leaps out: a pair of shoes, a dress, an umbrella.

That code red, according to Hobart-born Kate, who has been selected as the Emerging Artist at the 2017 Tasmanian Craft Fair in Deloraine, reveals her second home.

“It’s a symbol of Poland,” she said simply.

“My parents moved to Australia 30 years ago, away from communism and a difficult life, and I grew up in a mixed Polish/Australian culture.

“Even in Renaissance paintings, red spoke of love, blood,war, emotions; for me it was putting a sense of that Polish homeland into the work.”

Inextricably bound with that patriotic identifier is Kate’s statement about ‘home’ through her work.  She grew up in the Hobart suburb of Taroona and inevitably romanticised her depiction of the Polish homeland.

“Everything I do is about the home, belonging and identity,” she said.

“I grew up with a beautiful, romanticised version of Poland, and a lot of my work is based on this.  I was drawn to etching by my parents who showed me etchings by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer.  At an early age I saw art in the Louvre and the Vatican, and was influenced by European history.”

“I was obsessed with Poland.  Then I realised how much I love Tasmania and the influences of nature, plants and flowers came into my work.  I understood that I have two home connections.”

“Exploring the concept of how we create a connection with home, I’ve designed and made ceramics, prints, clothing, cushions and jewellery.  I’ve expanded to creating digital fabrics, creating the idea of home and homeland within my work.”

Visitors to the Tasmanian Craft Fair will see the seamless bonding effect of these two homelands in Kate’s work. The merging of the influences of her loving Polish family culture with an Australian environment.

“I grew up in Taroona and really belonged there. I still have the friends I made at Taroona Primary, my parents still live there, my brother has just bought a house there and I’d like to have a family there too.

“Rather than Tasmania’s beaches and bush, which I love, I believe it’s that strong sense of home and belonging that’s visible in my work.”

Photo | Image supplied