108 Paper Agates (selected works from multiple series), 2020-2022. Laminated paper.
Approximately 4’ x 10’. Never Odd or Even, Galveston Arts Center. Photo courtesy of Roxann Grover.

Paper Agates (selected works)

Paper Agates are the paper component of Kate's art practice. The name comes from an agate's banded structure, successive layers within the confines of a sample. Although there are many appearances and forms of agate, all of them are slowly formed by accumulation processes that mark time, just like the paper works.

This series is ongoing.

The Agates are composites of the cities around Kate and the community in which she lives. Materials are mounded up and then eroded to reveal texts, textures, and images. In the same way, the artist builds new terrains with painting; she reconstructs and recontextualizes existing earth-building processes with materials found in the world. Over time, these pieces become community portraits, capturing time, memory, and culture in a visual capsule.

These works incorporate bills, band fliers, magazines, manuals, drug side effects inserts, letters, lists, food packaging, religious pamphlets, signage, political propaganda, maps, diagrams, photographs, and more.