Katrina Cowling (b. 1990)
Katrina Cowling (b. 1990)
Katrina Cowling (b.1990, Bradford, UK) has just completed the two-year Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship in Leeds and previously studied at Falmouth University. Her intuitive practice spans sculpture, drawing, writing and installation with a focus on materiality, process and the body in space. As a trained neon-bender and maker of light, she has explored the seductive combination of electricity, light, glass and noble gases for eight years, playfully disrupting the formal and conceptual tropes of this elusive and dying craft.
In her current work, Katrina adopts a critical eye and an exploratory approach to interrogate material and metaphor in the post-industrial city. Interested in the urban industrial as a site in which materials are valued for their rigidity, strength and structural integrity, Cowling disrupts these qualities in search of something more porous and intimate. Everyday construction materials are reshaped into vulnerable objects in varying states of collapse, fragility, and movement.
Profile
Current RA Schools student
Born: 1990 in Bradford
Nationality: British
RA Schools student from 2023 to 2026
Gender: Female
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Works by Katrina Cowling
![Katrina Cowling, Scantily Clad (solo show), 2016]()
Katrina Cowling, Scantily Clad (solo show), 2016
![Katrina Cowling, Pale Lithics (solo show), 2017]()
Katrina Cowling, Pale Lithics (solo show), 2017
![Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019]()
Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019
![Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019]()
Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019
![Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019]()
Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019
![Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019]()
Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019
![Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019]()
Katrina Cowling, propelling her shiny vehicle (solo show), 2019
![Katrina Cowling neon-bending at the National Media Museum, Bradford]()
Katrina Cowling neon-bending at the National Media Museum, Bradford
![Katrina Cowling, trɛmb(ə)l]()
Katrina Cowling, trɛmb(ə)l, 2022.
![Katrina Cowling, studio shot - scale model, 2023]()
Katrina Cowling, studio shot - scale model, 2023
![Katrina Cowling, studio shot - portrait, 2023]()
Katrina Cowling, studio shot - portrait, 2023
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CV
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Education
2021 - 2023 Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship, Leeds Arts University - in association with the Kenneth Armitage Foundation and Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
2013 BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class) - Falmouth University -
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2023 Near to the Wild Heart - Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship, Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds Arts University, Leeds
2019 Of Brightwork and Edgelands - invited to exhibit as part of Pangaea Sculpture Production Award, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry Biennial, Coventry
2019 propelling her shiny vehicle - The Briggait 1873 Hall, Glasgow
2019 propelling her shiny vehicle part II (with sound piece by Lucy Johnson) - Ridings Shopping Centre, Wakefield. Commissioned by Index, as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International
2017 Pale Lithics - Henderson Gallery, Nottingham
2016 Scantily Clad - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, Leeds with text piece by George ChinneryDuo exhibitions
2017 Fidelity Flop - Lily Ackroyd-Willoughby x Katrina Cowling - Near Source, STCFTHOTS, Leeds
Group exhibitions
2023 If Not Now, When? Generations of Women in Sculpture in Britain, 1960-2022 - The Hepworth, Wakefield and the Saatchi Gallery, London
2021 Material Matters - Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds
2019 Series of commissioned works with Club Clubb Clubbb - Index, as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International
2018 Prop Me Up – Bankley Gallery, Manchester
2018 EBC020 - East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol
2017 Suite Life, Room 210 - Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
2016 Ny Space #4 - Ny Space, Manchester
2016 The Manchester Contemporary, Old Granada Studios, Manchester
2016 On To The Next - The Royal Standard, Liverpool
2016 Lick it up baby, lick it up - STCFTHOTS, Leeds
2015 You think the only people who are people, are the people who look like you. But if you walk in the footsteps of a stranger, you learn things you never knew you never knew - Two Queens, Leicester
2014 Appropriation - The Tetley, Leeds -
Awards and Residencies
2021 Shortlisted for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, Standpoint Gallery, London
2020 Selected for Yorkshire Sculpture Network (Yorkshire Sculpture International) - supported by Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
2020 Nominated for The Tetley Jerwood Commissions, The Tetley, Leeds
2020 Recipient of the Freelands Foundation Emergency Fund
2019 Recipient of the Pangaea Sculpture Production Award (and invited to exhibit at Coventry Biennial)
2019 Research trip / residency - Istanbul Biennial - invited and funded by East Street Arts, Istanbul
2015 - present freelance glass-bender and neon-fabricator (8+ years training and experience in all aspects and processes involved in the making and manipulation of light)
2013 Recipient of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Degree Show Award
2012 Recipient of the Denis Mitchell Sculpture Award
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