Kathryn Anne Trussler is a young artist from Madley, a small village in the English county of Herefordshire. During 2010-2012, she eagerly attended the only specialist college in the region that was solely dedicated to the arts; HCA. She has now recently completed an integrated master’s programme at Swansea College of Art, where she participated in a number of exhibitions with her peers. It was here, that she enjoyed studying Fine Art. Primarily exploring sculpture and its many different notions. You may have come across some of her creations that were imagined in a string of curious materials such as: bread, chocolate, and often expanding foam.
Kathryn is best known for her habitual material collecting, or what she would refer to as a ‘long consideration of the unmeasurable potential of non traditional materials’. Kathryn works rapidly to develop concepts that can be later created into large, or small scale mulita-media objects. Throughout her studies, she has readily accepted the challenges of working with items/ materials that contend with the notion of the ‘everyday’. During her most recent body of work, she has specifically chosen to utilise materials that Kathryn describes as, “discarded articles of mass consumerism”, such as polystyrene blocks and wooden pallets. These would be used in combination with materials that are seemingly more precious; such as Glass Wax and Gold Leaf. The assemblages have been described as a celebration of contemporary detritus, and an examination of items that are designed to be thoughtlessly disposed of or overlooked, shortly after their initial use. Often materials with opposing properties are forcefully fastened together using Kathryn’s crudely executed techiques, which form a otherwise avoided unison.
Kathryn’s practice has a notable honesty, especially to be observed in her most recent sculptures that were displayed at the Volcano Gallery, during the MARTS final degree show; MADE 2016, where her works displayed unashamedly excessive modes of fastening. These were such as; nuts, bolts, screws and nails, and the liberal application of her, trusty, expanding foam. The techniques and processes adopted, were ritualistically sought for their immediacy in a much more time consuming event that the artist pointed out as the sourcing of the items and their examination for potential compositional and aesthetic value.
‘As an artist, I feel I can actively play a role in the life cycle of a discarded article, and with that comes a great sense of responsibility, and that is – to find imaginative ways of redirecting, or reimagining the inevitable fate that lies ahead of them’.
Kathryn Trussler, 2016
Kathryn will be using this residency opportunity to increase the scale in which she works, and to incorporate elements into her practice that she typically avoids; such as painting, and or drawing. She has recently become interested in the idea of interoperating stereotypical, mass produced ‘Zen stone’ canvases in 3D, or as an installation experience. Kathryn would like to use consumer waste to highlight what she feels is a ludicrousness in the targeted imagery. This project would be a natural progression from her recent interest in societal throw away objects.