It is probably a year since I saw Kate Daw, but it feels like it was much more recent. Kate was one of those people who was always around – at art openings, visiting galleries, supporting local creatives (at all levels of their practice) and just giving off the most genuine, brightest and positive vibes in the local art world. Kate was an integral part of Melbourne’s art community.
Born in Western Australia in 1965, Kate came to Melbourne to study at the Victorian College of the Arts after dropping out of art school in Perth when she was 18 years of age. She completed her undergraduate studies at the VCA and then went on to study a Master of Fine Arts at both the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1997. Later, Kate gained a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2006.
Kate’s PhD topic was about ‘narrative functions’ in contemporary art – the way that language and memory create narratives fascinated her. It is not surprising that Marcel Proust, Jean Rhys and Truman Capote were often referenced in her own art. Kate was also interested in the spheres of domesticity, the everyday and the imagined, which she explored through a range of media including painting, sculpture and typewritten text. We see a perfect example of this in her ‘Menu’ works on damask in the NGV collection.
While the personal and domestic was a common theme, Kate also looked at the cultural presence of sport in Australia. In collaboration with artist, Stewart Russell, ‘A simple act’ (2006/2008) examines whether and how noble values might emerge from sport. This seven-part work uses newspaper images, badges, logos, uniforms and other ephemera to remind us of the power of the gesture by Australian Olympian, Peter Norman, in his support of the civil rights protest of African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, at the Mexico Games in 1968.
Given her academic and practical interests, Kate was an extraordinary educator at the VCA. She became a sessional staff member in the Painting department in 2000 and eventually took on the role as Head of Painting for five years and then Associate Professor in Art and Head of the School of Art.
Kate’s art was often curated into exhibitions. Recent ones include: ‘All the Better to See You With: Fairy Tales Transformed’, 2018, at The Ian Potter Museum; ‘Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism’, 2017, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art; and the Biennale of Sydney in 2014. In 2011, Kate again collaborated with Stewart Russell on the bronze bell structure (a bell tower that tolls every evening at sunset) ‘Civil Twilight End’ 2011which is permanently installed at Melbourne’s Docklands.
Kate passed away last week after a recent battle with illness and the tributes since her death highlight the impact and influence she had on art in Melbourne. Jon Cattapan’s ‘vale’ for artguide reminds us what a ‘shining light’ Kate was for all her knew her: https://artguide.com.au/vale-kate-daw-a-shining-light-for-all-who-knew-her
I know that I will continue to look for Kate again when Melbourne’s art life resumes. It will be very strange, unnerving and extremely sad to no longer have her beaming smile and sincere interest in ‘all things art’ to make each event more memorable. Her flag from ‘Flags for Melbourne’ 2013 as part of the NGV’s ‘Melbourne Now’ exemplifies what we will all miss…
Kate DAW and SPACECRAFT, Melbourne (manufacturer), NGV Collection
Vale: Kate Daw
Well said. An immeasurable loss. The Melbourne art world has lost one of the critical links that bind us.