When I was growing up, my mother began teaching ceramics to the women in our neighbourhood. She was facing a very difficult time in her life, and even as a young girl I could see that pottery was a place for her to go, a place of solace.
When my mother died in 2019, I moved to Cairns, QLD, Australia, where I knew no one except my FiFo partner, Duncan. Around a year later, I found myself surrounded by an incredible bunch of women making ceramics.
I’d never taken to clay much before; my creative passions were always cooking and drawing, but something was guiding me, and I couldn’t help but think that my mother was channelling me to get her hands in the clay, or at least steering me to a safe, supportive place.
Kat Hall’s education includes extensive travels throughout Australia and the rest of the world. She studied at Studieframjandet, Orebro, Sweden, and volunteered at Waringarri and Warmun Art Centers in the Kimberley, whilst working on her Master of Arts Degree. Hall’s work is influenced by questions of identity and place prompted by her many years of travel.
Her commitment to the arts is evident in her dedication to teaching on numerous levels. In 2003, she ran “Drawing from the Land”, a day of interactive landscape drawing and Wardandi cultural education based in Gracetown in the Margaret River region. In 2005, she facilitated one of eight community-based art workshops designed to create awareness in the communities of Gracetown, Cowaramup, Augusta, Witchcliffe, Rosa Brook, Prevelly and Margaret River as part of a Cultural Planning Art Projects.
In 2007, she used her art experience to design, coordinate and facilitate an arts project for the Gates introduction program for youth struggling with the school system. In 2008, she was involved in a volunteer program in Rote, Indonesia, using art as a communicative tool for teaching about health issues. Between 2002 and 2006, she worked as a drawing lecturer and Head Lecturer in visual arts, at ECU, South West Campus. In 2010, Kat spoke at the DDR (Displacement Division Renewal) Conference at Curtin University in Sarawak about her experiences involving art as a cross-cultural communicative tool.
In her work “Dying To Be With You” 2013, she provided the space for people to share their experiences of death while engaging in the creative process. The underlying story for the work is a local Wardandi story about death, and the stories and ceremonies told by Wardandi elders at the site of the installation served to acknowledge and highlight local cultural history, past and present.
In 2023, she was invited to Punmu, a remote Aboriginal community in the East Pilbara, as a volunteer for Community First Development, where she put in motion a cross-cultural craft project, including natural dyeing with native plants.
Education
2004 Master of Arts ECU
1990 Bachelor of Arts VCA
1985 Studioframjandet Orebro Sweden
1980 Cert.Catering and Hotel Management Bentley Tech
1978 Tertiary Admission Exam City Beach High
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Mine, Mossenson Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria.
2007 Drawing, Perth Galleries, West Australia.
2004 Private Viewing, Line Mark Time, Fremantle Arts Centre, West Australia.
2002 Forgotten Places, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, Bunbury, West Australia.
1993 When Does The Boat Sail? Bu Gallery, Stromness, Orkney, UK.
Group Exhibitions
2013 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2013 South West Stories, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2012 Swan Song Show, Perth Galleries.
2010 Perth Galleries Group Show, Perth Galleries.
2010 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2009 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, Bunbury, West Australia and Vasse Felix Estate, Cowaramup, Margaret River.
2009 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2008 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries. (award winner).
2007 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2007 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries. (award winner).
2006 Bank West Contemporary Art Prize 2006, Perth Institute for Contemporary Art, West Australia.
2006 Wetlands, ArtGeo, Busselton, West Australia.
2006 The Year Ahead, Perth Galleries.
2006 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2005 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2005 Bank West Contemporary Art Prize 2004, Selected works for Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2005 Eight, Vasse Felix Winery and Gallery, Margaret River.
2005 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2004 Bank West Contemporary Art Prize 2004, Perth Institute for Contemporary Art, West Australia.
2004 Outlook, Vasse Felix Winery and Gallery, Margaret River, West Australia.
2004 South Western Times Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, Bunbury, West Australia (award winner).
2003 MA Work in Progress, Spectrum Project Space, Perth, West Australia.
2003 Margaret River Contemporary Art Group, Isaac Gallery, Margaret River, West Australia.
2003 South West Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries. (award winner).
2002 Christmas Exhibition, The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney, Scotland.
2002 Christmas Exhibition, Crossley and Scott, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
2002 ECU Lecturers Exhibition, Spectrum Project Space, Perth, West Australia.
2002 South West Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
2001 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries. (acquisition winner).
2001 South West Survey, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.
1993 Christmas Exhibition, The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney, Scotland.
1990 Prahran Fine Art Graduate Show, Victoria College, Prahran, Victoria, Australia (award winner).
