Stoodley from Todmorden Edge print 44

Background Information about Kate Boyce Art

Kate Boyce is a UK based artist and designer who is passionate about nature, colour, landscape and light. She uses paint, photography, collage and print to construct mixed media original artwork.
 
Originally trained as a surface pattern designer in Stoke On Trent, Kate worked for several years in the interior textile design industry. She became inspired to turn to landscape painting in the early 2000’s after settling in the picturesque and dramatic countryside of West Yorkshire. She has a studio in Hebden Bridge – her adoptive town where she also lives with her writer partner and two daughters.

The landscape and at times, the climate of Calderdale, is neither serene nor tranquil. Kate was drawn to the grittiness, to the dramatic character of her surroundings. She began to work intuitively with colour and sought to communicate the powerful beauty of the land, the visual effect of light and weather upon it. She was also drawn to contrast between the wide open space of the upland moorland and the hustle of bustle of former mill towns situated below, within the narrow, steep sided valley bottom. 

 
She also developed a strong interest in the history of the landscape and the stories held within it. In the Calder Valley it is the industrial heritage and its remains above and beneath the earth that captivate her. The use of fragmented photographic elements aid her expression of the contrast between the wildness of nature and human imprint on the land. Carefully chosen photographic and printed materials are often incorporated into the work as a representation of humanity. Together with different types of paint application a layered effect is created which reveals the depth and life of a landscape.
Over time Kate has also gained inspiration from further afield - the Lake District, the coast, cities and foreign lands. Travel refreshes her approach to painting - A few days break in a new city can inspire her painting for a whole year. Her approach though is always to try to tap into the true nature of a place and to convey her own joyous response to the colour and light she finds there.