About Kate

Artist : Illustrator : Designer : Producer : Project Manager : Writer : Director : Adviser

KATE GILMAN BRUNDRETT graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 1998 and City University in with an MA in Arts Management. She was Graphic Artist and Graphics Editor for The Independent / on Sunday, Visual Arts manager at Southwark Festival and co-founder of international art space Area10 – a 22,000 square foot warehouse in Peckham.

Kate returned to Cumbria in 2002 and founded The Cumbria Network, a creative development hub for 1000+ artists in the ‘north, north west’, co-founded FRED, one of Europe’s largest site specific festivals, and Online ‘Jobs & Opps’ Editor for a-n: The Artists Information Company, offering timely advice on the environment for visual art work to a membership of 20,000.

She continues her visual arts practice from her rural base in north England, specialising in drawing and illustration, installation and project management, and is co-Director of The Studio Morland, an Arts&Wellness space exploring the creative of contemporary culture and wellbeing, in the heart of the Eden Valley.

As an exploratory artist, Kate’s interests are rooted in the observation of human navigation of the world we occupy and how we structure our mental and physical environments to adapt and find our ‘selves’ within it.

Working in a variety of media, from illustration to installation, her projects humorously reflect society’s foibles, from her ‘small wonderments’ and ideas of intrigue, to spontaneous drawings that capture the idiosyncrasies of modern day life. Her sketches and interventions reveal simple studies of the everyday that are sometimes forgotten in our chaotic lives, bringing to our senses an ‘alternative awareness of the obvious’.

Kate’s work ranges from the big and brash – such as the colourful giant fireworks display for Carlisle Fire Show – to quieter observations of things more delicate – such as Dead Daddy – yet no less profound in it’s being-ness.

Kate’s diverse ‘desk based’ roles have seen a broad career scope including managing, coordinating, curating, marketing, project delivery and as founding director of a number of larger scale initiatives mentioned above.

Her role as sfedi qualified Business Adviser at Voluntary Action Cumbria, A4E Enterprise, saw her designing and delivering a business start up course for the Rural Women’s Network, offering one to one sessions and managing their art group Blue Tarn with fundraising, exhibitions and partner work.

She has organised symposia on Artist Development issues, rural working, public art and art and the built environment, working with Art Gene, Castlefield, Story, a-n and others.

She has acted as board director for a number of creative organisations and travelled to Portugal and Poland as a representative of Cumbria’s Culture Sector and Cultural Tourism business representative.

As a consultant and adviser she has been invited to consult on the early days of the Lowther Castle development, as Grant Adviser and section panel member for Rural Regeneration Cumbria, and at 11 Downing St, on invitation to a breakfast meeting with Tessa Jowell to advise on the nation’s creative industries.

More recently she has been involved in leadership development, lecturing at IFLAS, for University of Cumbria on the MA Sustainable Leadership course, and in developing company structures for private business.

Kate’s interests and enquiries are many and take in health, psychology, body mind connection, running, group dynamics, leadership development, organisational management, psychology of play, ancient wellbeing techniques, yoga, structures and methodologies, greek myths, celtic culture, storytelling, fairies, witches and ghosts and things we can’t see, vastness of mountains, finding sheep skulls, fascination with insects, breathing and the senses, any kind of line making, graphics, maps and charts, observational drawing, collaborating, improvised music and dancing.

Contact Kate