Kate Rears

Kate is a visual artist, poet and creator of mindful art. 

And the truth is, while Kate has been creating pretty much her whole life, it took until her mid-30s for her to really take her creative self seriously.

She has now scaled back her work as an academic writer and editor to honour the artist inside. 

The art Kate makes is diverse. She is learning to trust her instincts and she uses mindful practice to lead her in whatever direction she needs to go next.

My creative space is…

all over. I am a fickle friend to physical space and I like to spread myself around the house, outside, and in local cafes for writing. I often have to walk around for ideas to be released. I’ve started a garden project in our large(ish) backyard called The Secret Garden. The garden is open for local creatives, writers and contemplatives to come and create or spend time. I’m a firm believer in the inspiration afforded by community, third spaces, and nature! This project has been a slow burn so I also use the garden as a workshop space for art and mindfulness. My ultimate dream is a she shed. For now, at home I like to work all over the house — on the couch, on the dining room table, outside, at my desk, and in bed. Sometimes, I’ll go for a walk and write a poem by the local duck pond, or stop at a coffee shop impromptu to catch a poem that’s been floating around. To be honest, my creative space is really my brain. I’m a pretty massive introvert.

The last piece I created is... 

the bonsai of desire – an original ink on paper piece informed by people’s responses to the sentence: If only I could, I would…

Banksia seeds only open in the presence of extreme heat – I drew hundreds of circles around handwritten, individual desires to form a banksia seed pod. In doing, so I applied a heat of exquisite mindful attention to these desires, which, I hope, might help them come to life. This piece was shown at a group exhibit, Paths Crossed, for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and was quickly sold. My first red dot! I was thrilled. As part of this work, I also made postcards, which I send to anyone who would like to consider their own desire and set it free.

Inspiration for my art comes from…

nature, mindfulness, surrounding myself with good sentences, and my personal experiences of estrangement.

My favourite tool for creating is…

pen and ink are where I feel safest, but increasingly, secondhand yarn is keeping my hands busy, and I find myself longing to wrap objects. 

What I do to conjure the muse…

Walk. Anywhere and everywhere, for as long as possible. Surround myself with good sentences – my poetic teachers on my bookshelves open the doorway. Drawing circles is my bridge to the sacred and once I’ve drawn a page of them, I usually know what’s next on the list. 

My biggest artistic challenge is…

for sure it’s my artistic skill. I am self-trained and very impatient when learning new things, so I cut a lot of corners to make work go more quickly. I don’t actually consider myself a very talented artist, and hope that my words and motivations help my art to have a wabi sabi aesthetic. My other major challenge is Pauline – my intensely negative and mean inner critic, who kept me away from art for many decades and pops up every now and then to tell me I’m useless. She force feeds me design shows on Netflix or makes me do inconsequential household chores to use up my creative time.

My art has taught me…

the power of impermanence, connection, and letting go. Art, for me, is a process, and a tool for connection. I’m so grateful for the spaciousness it offers me and others. When my young children draw, they never just put their art away when finished. They come and tell us a story about it. This is their way to share their inner world and of course it is that for all of us. 

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