K A T I E
M A W S O N

Katie Mawson's practice centers around colour balance, positive and negative spaces, and creating a sense of peace. She trained as a textile designer and runs a successful knitwear brand. She has been collecting vintage cloth bound books from local charity shops for many years, and uses the cloth from these books as both her palette and canvas. The array of colours is infinite, many of them faded and marked through time; they all have a former life and story.

She slices, cuts, rips and skins these beautifully marked and faded cloths from their boards; this is all part of the making process. Deconstructing to then reconstruct into something new. She adds no colour to the covers, but experiments with mark making and removing colour, creating lines and texture.

Mawson lives in the Lake District and wild swims at sunrise throughout the year; the quietness and calmness of these swims, along with the changes in weather and seasons, inform her work as does the aging process within more urban environments. She likes to juxtapose the beauty of urban decay and dereliction with the purity of nature.