Art/Work Interview with Kate Mitchell

Art/Work is a new Concrete Playground series where we take some time to chat with our local creatives in an attempt to unravel the daily grind behind being an artist. This week we speak with Kate Mitchell, a Sydney-based endurance artist represented by Chalk Horse. She is also one half of the paper cut crazy duo, Greedy Hen. Beware, jealousy pangs coming up, no more day job for this lovely lady!

Most days you'll find me having some good times working at the Greedy Hen studio in Surry Hills. Greedy Hen is essentially a multi-disciplinary studio functioning partly as an art collective and partly as a design studio, housing the collaborative works of Katherine Brickman and myself. We make artwork, mostly collage/illustration heavy and it ends up in a whole variety of industries. We share our studio with some top notch people like Elke Kramer, Mikie Inglis and Benja Harney.  It's non stop action in there!

When I am not there I am having good times working/making from my studio at home. Otherwise I'm at the beach or on a bike.

For the most part I spend my week bouncing ideas around with Katherine Brickman in Greedy Hen HQ, nutting out plans of attack and then getting them done the best way we can. We never know what will be in our inbox each morning, but usually there is some job waiting patiently for us!  From time to time I work from my studio at home, it's quite a good balance.

At the moment I am working on a solo Greedy Hen show which opens on May 5th at Lamington Drive in Melbourne. And currently I have some video works in a splendid group show called Social Sculpture on at Anna Schwartz Gallery at Carriage Works. It's on until May 14th.

If money wasn't an issue I'd sail around the world, live on an island, climb some mountains, raft some rapids, make travel documentaries, meet some serious locals, learn to tie knots properly, never live through another winter and just wholesomely get out there and get involved. And realise all art dreams!

Being an artist in Sydney is delightful and relentless in equal measure.

My neighbourhood is Bronte. There's the beach and the RSL, what could possibly go wrong?

I'm quite a fan of sneaking in a good body surf at Bronte beach in the mornings, and then I can't resist a dance off at Good God Small Club. It never fails to deliver.