Kate Newby (b. 1979, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand) creates site-responsive works that are inserted directly into exhibition spaces and surrounding areas. Newby creates handmade, crudely constructed sculptural interventions that simultaneously connect and contrast their environments. Drawing out both the physical and poetic qualities of materials (usually materials such as concrete, textiles, glass, and ceramics), her work explores whether situational context can be just as informative as materiality and content. Underpinning Newby’s process is a performative ethos: she investigates the way material interventions made in response to a site’s particular temporal, physical, and geographical conditions can be a means of transformation and intervention.
Kate Newby received her Doctorate of Fine Art in 2015 from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. Recent institutional exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museum of New Zealand, Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi, Wellington; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; The Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; 21st Biennale of Sydney; Sculpture Center, New York; Blaffer Art Museum, Houston. In 2012, she won the Walters Prize, New Zealand’s largest contemporary art prize, and in 2019 Newby was awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. Kate has undertaken residencies at The Chinati Foundation, Artpace, Fogo Island, and the International Studio & Curatorial Program ISCP. Newby currently lives and works in Wilson County, USA.
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Kate Newby
Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown)
Kate Newby – Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown), 2017
Etching and relief
Framed
K.N0084
Kate Newby
Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown)
Kate Newby – Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown), 2017
Etching and relief
Framed
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Kate Newby
Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown)
Kate Newby – Just be prepared (backyard birds, Southtown), 2017
Etching and relief
Framed
K.N0082
Kate Newby
A sky, a wall, and a tree
Kate Newby – A sky, a wall, and a tree, 2016
Glass, sand
Dimensions variable
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Kate Newby
You make loving fun
Kate Newby – You make loving fun, 2016
Glass, sand
Dimensions variable
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Kate Newby
What’s the worst that can happen #3
Kate Newby – What’s the worst that can happen #3, 2018
Porcelain, found glass from sidewalks
Dimensions variable
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Kate Newby
The top blew off
Kate Newby – The top blew off, 2015-2020
High fired porcelain and stoneware, earthenware, mason stain, thread, rope
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Kate Newby
Can’t wait till the day.
Kate Newby – Can’t wait till the day., 2019
Stoneware, screws
Dimensions variable
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Kate Newby
We are such stuff, Laurel Gitlen
Kate Newby – We are such stuff, Laurel Gitlen, 2022
Laurel Gitlen, New York, USA
Kate Newby
Reclamer la terre, Palais de Tokyo
Kate Newby – Reclamer la terre, Palais de Tokyo, 2022
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Kate Newby
Try Doing Anything About It, Galerie Art Concept
Kate Newby – Try Doing Anything About It, Galerie Art Concept, 2022
Galerie Art Concept, Paris, France
Kate Newby
Swallowing Geography, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Kate Newby – Swallowing Geography, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2021
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Kate Newby
Take your chances with me, SCAPE Public Art
Kate Newby – Take your chances with me, SCAPE Public Art, 2021
Rope
Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand
Kate Newby
Selective eye contact
Kate Newby – Selective eye contact, 2019
White brass, hand made silk rope
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Someday I want to just have a room full
Kate Newby – Someday I want to just have a room full, 2019
Stoneware, silk thread
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Everything you can imagine is real
Kate Newby – Everything you can imagine is real, 2019
Brass, hand made silk rope
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
noise is by no way mild.
Kate Newby – noise is by no way mild., 2019
Pink silver, red brass, hand made silk rope
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Can’t wait till the day
Kate Newby – Can’t wait till the day, 2019
Bronze
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Song at the end?
Kate Newby – Song at the end?, 2019
Porcelain, stoneware, screws
Dimensions variable, 12 pieces (Right Hand Side)
Kate Newby
Moves freely around most environments
Kate Newby – Moves freely around most environments, 2019
Porcelain, stoneware, screws
Dimensions variable, 12 pieces (Left Hand Side)
Kate Newby
and I LOVE wild
Kate Newby – and I LOVE wild, 2019
Porcelain, smoke fired stoneware, screws
Dimensions variable, 13 pieces (Right Hand Side)
Kate Newby
dont play it but i still have it
Kate Newby – dont play it but i still have it, 2019
Porcelain, stoneware glaze, collected glass from Toronto sidewalks, brass
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Hold onto me as we go
Kate Newby – Hold onto me as we go, 2019
Stoneware, porcelain, mason stain, screws
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
I can’t nail the days down
Kate Newby – I can’t nail the days down, 2019
Bricks, collected glass from side walks in Vienna, poured copper, nails, stoneware, white brass
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Nothing in my life feels big enough
Kate Newby – Nothing in my life feels big enough, 2019
Salt fired porcelain, stoneware, smoke fired porcelain, mason stain, screws
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
They sound like each other
Kate Newby – They sound like each other, 2015
Glass wind chimes, 6 elements
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Wild was the night
Kate Newby – Wild was the night, 2019
Cuts in the concrete: Glass, silver, bronze, ceramics - Thread: Gold, silver, silk (60 meters) - Window: Glass - Tiles: Ceramics - Puddles Concrete, ceramics
Installation view at the Institut d'Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
Kate Newby
Nothing that’s over so soon should give you that much strength
Kate Newby – Nothing that’s over so soon should give you that much strength, 2018
Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway
Kate Newby
A puzzling light and moving.
Kate Newby – A puzzling light and moving., 2018
Lumber Room, Portland, USA
Kate Newby
I can’t nail the days down
Kate Newby – I can’t nail the days down, 2018
Kunsthall Wien, Wien, Austria. Curator: Juliane Bischoff
Kate Newby
But what will it look like in 3 years
Kate Newby – But what will it look like in 3 years, 2019
Silver, porcelain, stoneware, glaze, copper
9 pieces
Kate Newby
Something Central
Kate Newby – Something Central, 2019
Porcelain, stoneware, glaze, brass, silver
6 pieces
Kate Newby
Make! A! Wave
Kate Newby – Make! A! Wave, 2016
High fired porcelain, stoneware, and glaze
Dimensions variable, 58 x 27 in not including the thread
Kate Newby
Maybe I won’t go to sleep at all
Kate Newby – Maybe I won’t go to sleep at all, 2013
Rope, thread, variety of days, glaze
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Lilith Fair brought me here
Kate Newby – Lilith Fair brought me here, 2018
Thread, pink silver, yellow silver, silver
Dimensions variable, 30 pieces
Kate Newby
Better looking at it than looking for it
Kate Newby – Better looking at it than looking for it, 2018
Glass, wire
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Swift little verbs pushing the big nouns around
Kate Newby – Swift little verbs pushing the big nouns around
Kate Newby
Let Me Be The Wind That Pulls Your Hair
Kate Newby – Let Me Be The Wind That Pulls Your Hair, 2017
Kate Newby
In Practice: Material Deviance
Kate Newby – In Practice: Material Deviance, 2017
Kate Newby
My list of places to drop in on regularly.
Kate Newby – My list of places to drop in on regularly., 2017
Hand-dyed cotton rope, hand-dyed silk thread, pink silver, silver, white brass, bronze
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Let me be the wind that pulls your hair
Kate Newby – Let me be the wind that pulls your hair, 2017
Porcelain, black clay, cobblestone glaze
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
Nobody else believes this story
Kate Newby – Nobody else believes this story, 2016
White brass, pink silver, yellow silver, silver, bronze, porcelain, stoneware, porcelain, silk thread, hand-dyed cotton rope
Kate Newby
Let the other thing in
Kate Newby – Let the other thing in, 2013
Installation at Fogo Island Gallery
Kate Newby
I memorized it I loved it so much
Kate Newby – I memorized it I loved it so much, 2015
Installation at Laurel Gitlen, New York City, New York
Kate Newby
Big tree. Bird’s eye, 2016
Kate Newby – Big tree. Bird’s eye, 2016, 2016
Installation at Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
Kate Newby
I feel like a truck on a wet highway, 2014
Kate Newby – I feel like a truck on a wet highway, 2014, Installation at LULU, Mexico City, Mexico
Kate Newby- It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Kate Newby- It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
High fired stoneware
Dimensions variable, 3 pieces, 3 9/10 x 3 9/10 x 3 9/10 in each
Kate Newby
You make loving fun
Kate Newby – You make loving fun, 2016
Glass, sand
Dimensions variable
Kate Newby
A sky, a wall, and a tree
Kate Newby – A sky, a wall, and a tree, 2016
Glass, sand
Dimensions variable