#adventapertures2025: day 20

Sometimes, when we’re on a long drive, and we’ve talked enough and listened to enough music and stopped twice, once to eat, once to see the view, we fall into this rhythm of silence. It swings back and forth between us like a rope over a lake. Maybe it’s what we don’t say that savesContinue reading “#adventapertures2025: day 20”

#adventapertures2025: day 19

I praise you because  you are artist and scientist  in one. When I am somewhat  fearful of your power,  your ability to work miracles  with a set-square, I hear  you murmuring to yourself  in a notation Beethoven  dreamed of but never achieved. You run off your scales of  rain water and sea water, play  theContinue reading “#adventapertures2025: day 19”

building joy

In the summer of 2023 I was awarded a bursary from DAiSY (Disability Arts in Surrey) to become artist in residence at the New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey.  The brief was to be in an ‘open studio’ situation, welcoming the gallery’s visitors and answering any questions they might have about my work and about creativityContinue reading “building joy”

Christmas Eve: for reframing

Totally conscious, and apropos of nothing, you come to me.Is someone here? I ask.The moon. The full moon is inside your house. My friends and I go running out into the street.I’m in here, comes a voice from the house,but we aren’t listening. We’re looking up at the sky.My pet nightingale sobs like a drunkContinue reading “Christmas Eve: for reframing”

for community

It is in the shelter of each other that people live. (Irish proverb)  Making room for community is different from spending time with my extended network of friends and family.  In my current definition, it’s a network of people with whom I have a meaningful encounter, exchange or dialogue, whether online or in person.  Continue reading “for community”

heart of stone

Once again it is my honour to contribute a reflection to the ‘monk in the world’ blog of the Abbey of the Arts. This piece was first published on May 15, 2024 (although it was written in May 2023). all words and images by Kate Kennington Steer  I arrived at February 2023 in a post-viralContinue reading “heart of stone”

well or w/hole (part iv)

I meant to write this in September 2023, but it is now February 2024.  I am recovering from a reanimation of the chest infection I caught before Christmas, but it has wiped out this month.  I am attempting not to fight the bouts of vertigo and dizziness which sideswipe me, even as I sit perfectlyContinue reading “well or w/hole (part iv)”

well or w/hole (part iii)

(This is the third instalment of ‘well or w/hole?’, and it might (?!) make more sense if you read the other two instalments first.  You can find them on the Blog Feed.) Let’s follow the water…  One line of research around the bright-+/well project led me to think about the ‘well’ in the name BrightWellContinue reading “well or w/hole (part iii)”

well or w/hole? (part ii)

We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows. ‘The Secret Sits’ Robert Frost For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the idea of essence: that there is a core, a kernel, a seed, a heart, a soul, which functions as aContinue reading “well or w/hole? (part ii)”

k’s big bday gratitude: one year (and a bit) on

Last week I finished writing all my thank you cards, notes and letters to those who donated to the fundraising campaign I launched as part of my ‘Big Birthday’ celebrations.  To my utter amazement, we managed to raise over £950.00 for the charity Creative Response which has been such a crucial lifeline for me sinceContinue reading “k’s big bday gratitude: one year (and a bit) on”