Dr Kate Corder studied for a Practice Based PhD in Art at University of Reading. Kate’s art practice continues to evolve and take on varied forms. She is a walker, tour guide (HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks), painter, gardener, draws, sews, makes vegan cake, jam and chutney. She is a researcher, creative writer, curator, maker of sculpture / installations, photographer, film maker, performer and printmaker. Kate has been Vegan since the early 1990s and although she does not over emphasis this fact in her art practice, her long-term commitment to Veganisim is a central core behind her thinking. She continues to use allotment gardening as a strand in her artwork practice by cultivating a local authority plot, Plot 21 (Culver Lane), Reading. Previously she cultivated Plot 326 (Bulmershe). On going observations of ecologies, eco catastrophe, land use, wildlife and plant material are themes within her work, as is the non-human.
If you would like to see Kate Corder’s artwork, prints, drawings and paintings etc please contact her directly. Her archive of artwork is extensive. She has many prints and paintings in private collections and a few of her artworks are owned by public collections. Kate’s Instagram account is @kate.corder (request to follow her).
Kate Corder’s PhD thesis and research practice investigated allotments, rural labour, plant and land cultivation in art. A three-year study of an allotment plot in the garden at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading is recorded on the Allotment Plot Blog alongside a comparative study of Allotment Plot 326 at Bulmershe Allotments. When cultivating allotments, Kate continues to be assisted by and collaborates with Ella Montt. Films document the research process and the performative nature of the allotment garden. Kate Corder curates Cultivation Field, which was initially a symposium in 2011 and was followed by an exhibition of artwork pertaining to plant-based material in 2012.
Kate’s project HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks series (2014-2016) explored threatened land and histories of orchards and market gardens around the Heathrow area. Photographs and films from HOW have been exhibited during the touring Document, Alternative exhibition series and in NYC. Kate Corder was an active member of art research group sensingsite at Central St Martins.
Education:
PhD in Art 2009-2014 University of Reading
MFA 2006 University of Reading
PGDip Printmaking Central St Martins
BA (Hons) Fine Art/ Painting Winchester School of School of Art
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Somerset College of Art & Technology
One Person Exhibitions:
2018 – Myth, lithographic prints and drawings, Progress Theatre, The Mount, Reading, RG1 5HL
2018 – Plant and Plot, The Turbine House, Blake’s Lock, Kenavon Drive, Reading RG1 3DH
2016 – HEATHROW ORCHARD WALKS Performance Activism Documentation by Kate Corder, curated by Lisa A. Banner, Institute of Fine Arts, 1 East 78th Street, NY 10075
2007 – Plant, Reading International Solidarity Centre, Reading
2003 – Brewery Arts Centre, Cirencester, UK
1998 – Bear Necessities, Hausbaund, 28 Bond Street, New York, NY
1996 – Bearable, Luna Lounge, Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002
1995 – Teddy Bears Picnic, Bell Cafe 310 Spring Street, NY 10013
1994 – Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre, Taunton, Somerset
1994 – Valerie’s, 149 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002
1993 – The Bell Cafe, 310 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013
Selected Group Exhibitions include:
2023 – Ilminster Arts Centre, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 0AN
2023 – Play & Compassion, Kingshill House Creative Centre, Dursley, GL11 4BZ
2018 – Relics, Reading Minster, St Mary’s Butt, Reading
2018 – Documents, Alternative, Verge Gallery, Sydney (January), B-Side Gallery, BSAD Bath (April) and ONCA Gallery, Brighton (September)
2017 – Documents, Alternative, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (November-December)
2017 – 100 Lilies for Oscar Wilde, Reading
2016 – Alternative Document, Lincoln, UK
2009 – EASTinternational 2009 – Norwich
2009 – EASTvideo Touring Programme
2007 – Unit 8 Invented Communities, Reading
2007 – Ni Musculos Ni Secreciones, Madrid, Spain
2006 – University of Reading MFA & BA curated exhibition, the Art Pavilion, Mile End, London
2002 – The Jerwood Drawing Prize, Cheltenham, London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Hull
2001 – Re. Projects Resistance is Futile. Stroud UK
2001 – On The Level, Art Shape, Gloucester Docks, UK
2000 – Small Works, The Grey Gallery, NYU, New York
1998 – View From Inside, Lower East Side Ecology Centre, East 7th St, New York
1996 – The Romper Room Thread Waxing Space, 476 Broadway, New York
1995 – NeoFluxFest 95, Here Gallery, 145 6th Ave, New York
1995 – Women’s History Month, Pratt Institute New Gallery, Brooklyn
1994 – Reverence, CBGB’s 313 Gallery, New York NY
1992 – The Stansell Gallery, Taunton, Somerset
1990 – Lamont Gallery, 65 Roman Road, London E2
1989 – The Bankside Open Printmaking Exhibition, London SE3
1989 – The Dance Attic, 214 Putney Bridge Road, London SW15
1988 – The Women Artists Slide Library Diary 1989, Fulham Palace, SW6
1987 – Myth, Dream and Landscape, Swiss Cottage Library, London NW3
1986 – New Artists Week, Jablonski Gallery, Woodstock St, London W1
1984 – Open drawing exhibition ‘84, The White Space Gallery, London N1
Performances and Events:
2016 – Kings Cross Late Autumn Walk
2016 – HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks series continues
2015 – HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks series continues
2014 – Heathrow Orchards Walk 12 October 2014
2014 – Haystacks 14: Heathrow Orchards Walk (autumn version) 14 September 2014
2014 – Haystacks 11: Heathrow Orchards Walk (spring version) 27 April 2014
2011 – Allotment Artist Talk, Wargrave Gardeners and Allotmenteers Club, Wargrave
2011 – Ella Montt Free-Time, DRAFT, Parasol Unit, 14 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW
2010 – Planting Performance, Allotment Plot at MERL, Reading, Berkshire
1996-2000 – Losers Lounge, stage decorations for NYC musicians collective band tribute shows
1995 – Alien Velvet Hare covered with Felt in Memory of Joseph Boyce, at NeoFluxFest 95, Here, 145 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013
Public Art Interventions:
2009-12 – Allotment Plot at MERL, Museum of English Rural Life’s garden
2009 – Vegetables in the City (supported by ACE), Eastinternational and The Assembly House and City Hall by Norwich City Council
2006 – Herb Garden, installation outside Fine Art at University of Reading
Essay Publications:
2018 – Rurality Re-imagined, essay “Heathrow: Wilderness and Walking”, University of Westminster.
2018 – Studies in Theatre and Performance: Volume 38, issue 3 – The Alternative Document: “How – Heathrow Orchard Walks observations and explorations of vibrant land“, Taylor and Francis.
2017 – Skulptur und Zeit im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, publisher Böhlau Verlag GmbH & Cie, Köln; chapter “Plant growth as transient or durational material constructing sculpture through time”.
2015 – “Social responsibility and art in public places, gardens and walking trails“, Seismopolite
2013 – Text extracts from Allotment Plot blog used in Christine Mackey’s SEED MATTER exhibition publication, Limerick City Gallery of Art, (36-41).
2012 – Published the Cultivation Field catalogue
2012 – Essay for File Note #70 Rachael Champion The Ornithopter Garden, Camden Arts Centre, London
2009 – Essay in EASTinternational 2009 catalogue
2006 – MFA catalogue; includes images of work and conversation with Marc Chaimowicz
Curation:
2012 – Curated and organized the Cultivation Field Exhibition, Reading, (supported by ACE)
2001-4 – Stroud Valleys Artspace SITE festival exhibitions and project co-ordinator, Stroud
1998 – Lower East Side Ecology Centre, NY 10009
Teaching:
2021 – Critique for University of Westminster’s post graduate Architecture’s design projects on land surrounding Heathrow
2015 – Visiting tutor at the Royal Academy Schools, London
2013 – Visiting tutor at the Royal Academy Schools, London
2005-6 Art Department, University of Reading
Various art workshops in schools teaching age ranges from 4-16. Visiting tutor at art schools
Academic Presentations:
2020 – Composting Estates, Central Saint Martins, King’s Cross, London – “Composting plot ecology, plant material, earthing and unearthing toads” (forthcoming).
2019 – Approaching Estate, methodologies for practices of site and place, Sensingsite at Furtherfield Commons, Finsbury Park, London. Title: “Plant Material, approaching germination“.
2018 – Documents, Alternative Symposium, BSAD, Bath. Title: “HOW and the Production of Jam: a layering of participatory walk events and recipe for sculptural objects”.
2016 – Walking Women, Somerset House, London. Title: “HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks 2014-2016”.
2016 – Traffic: Movement / Place / Flow / Mobility, Plymouth University and Plymouth College of Art. Title: “Hyper-active global travel and a slow approach to art activism – HOW“.
2016 – The Alternative Document Conference, University of Lincoln. Title: “HOW – Heathrow Orchard Walks, observations and exploration of vibrant land“.
2015 – In This Neck of the Woods, sensingsite 2015, Central St Martins, London. Title: “Rocket and Potatoes, Strawberries and Aggregate: Explorations of Kings Cross“.
2015 – Social Responsibility and Art Since the 1960s Conference, University of Essex, Colchester. Title: “Questions of social responsibility concerning art practice in public places, gardens and walking trails“.
2015 – Association of Art Historians AAH Conference, Groundwork Panel, University of East Anglia, Norwich. Title: “Heath Row: explorations of plant material and soil in relation to human processes of land cultivation“.
2015 – Rural Spaces in the UK (18th to 21st Centuries: Identities, Mutations and Representations Conference, University of Rennes, France. Title: “Explorations and observations of Heathrow’s former “grade one” agricultural land and contemporary landscape“.
2015 – Sites of Decay Conference, Binghamton University. Title: “Explorations of decaying agricultural land surrounding Heathrow Airport“.
2015 – Re-Imagining Rurality Conference, University of Westminster, London. Title: “Contemporary allotment strategy in relation to the Allotment Movement’s formative history; a visualization through art practice“.
2015 – Skulptur und Zeit im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, Universität der Künst, Berlin. Title: “Plant growth as transient or duration material constructing sculpture through time“.
2014 – Of the Earth Conference, Plymouth University. Title: “An exploration of plant material in relation to human processes of land cultivation“.
2014 – Practice based PhD in Art. PhD Thesis title: “The Allotment Plot: Place Tilled – An investigation into plant material, rural labour and cultivation within art practice”
2014 – Jacques Rancière and the Politics of Adisciplinarity, Binghamton University.
2012 – Environmental Utterance Conference, University College Falmouth, Cornwall.
2012 – PhD Symposium in Art, University of Reading.
2012 – JAM2012, University of Reading.
2011 – DRAFT – Free-Time at Parasol Unit Foundation of Contemporary Art, Wharf Road, London.
2011 – Curated and organized the Cultivation Field Symposium at University of Reading, (28 September 2011, Minghella Building, UOR).
2010 – PhD Symposium in Art, University of Reading.
2010 – Art and Landscape: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, MERL Symposium, University of Reading.
Bibliography:
2014 – The Guardian, Welcome to Heathrow – a strange landscape, not just an airport April 28, 2014, Haystacks, Kathrin Böhm
2013 – ixia public art think tank on-line publication for brook & black’s Modern Art Oxford:
Plot 16, The Fermenting Room (return of the rhizome).
2009 – Martin Herbert, EAST International Review, Art Monthly No 329.
© Copyright Kate Corder