meet the artist

a brief life story

Kate Kennington Steer is a disabled writer, contemplative photographer and visual artist.  After a short career as a freelance Performance Designer/Director and as Education Director at the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, Kate studied for a PhD in Theatre History at the University of London. She went on to teach Theatre History, Arts Administration and Event Management at Guildford School of Acting, Royal Holloway University, Farnborough College of Technology, St.Alfred’s College, Winchester and University College, Chichester. In 2003 Kate had to take medical redundancy due to chronic ill health and depression.  This led Kate to (re)commit to creative writing and photography as a means of processing her pain and grief.

In 2010 Kate was referred by social services to the small arts charity Creative Response Arts to leave the house, participate in a group, and to use informal arts therapy techniques to reconnect to her creativity as a visual artist.  She remains part of the Creative Response Arts community today.  Slowly, Kate regained her confidence in other forms of creative expression, such as photography and creative writing. She was awarded a prize for Abstract Photography by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2012.

Since 2013 Kate has blogged irregularly about creativity, spirituality and living with mental and physical ill health at ‘shotattenpaces’ and ‘imageintoikon’.  She is currently editing a memoir called ‘Walls, Wounds and Wonders’, which uses photographs made in a single place over the course of two years to illustrate these themes.  Since 2015 she has had a facebook iPhone project running called ‘actsofdailyseeing’. On YouTube (@katekenningtonsteer) she has made several short films combining some of her photography with readings of her poetry, some of which also include the work of her fellow ‘Scribblers Aloud’ (the creative writing group of Creative Response Arts). Her poetry has been published in ‘When Seeds Are Planted, Poems Grow’ and has been featured on several websites, including GodSpace and Abbey of the Arts. 

Her first solo exhibition, ‘episodes’, was July – August 2022 at The Farnham Pottery, Wrecclesham. (Please see separate page)

In Summer 2023 she was artist in residence at the New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, (made possible by a bursary from DAiSY (Disability Arts In Surrey)). Kate is currently seeking funding for materials to complete a large series of works for a ongoing project called ‘bright-+/well’, looking at wellbeing and the built environment, following the New Ashgate residency.

During the winter of 2023/4 she participated in a collaborative HAIKU/sound installation project between Creative Response Arts and the University of the Creative Arts for Farnham Literary Festival in March 2024.  Kate was also contributing to a North American photography project, called ‘between bodies’, with the Kinship Photography Collective. One of her exploratory ‘bright-+/well’ pieces was exhibited as part of the Print it!2024 festival at the APS Gallery, Leeds in January 2024.  Kate was also runner-up in the Farnham Literature Festival’s Poetry Competition. About her piece ‘visitation’, judge Linda Daruvala said it was, “so beautifully described … [the] observation of the sight, touch and effects … are deeply expressive and poignant”. 

During Summer 2024 her work will be a part of the following upcoming exhibitions: ‘Glimmers’ at New House Art Space, Guildford; ‘Kintsugi’ at Vernon House, Farnham; ‘Daisy-Chain Artist’ at the LightBox, Woking. She is also working on curating an online gallery of her work with the charity Outside-In.