BIO
Kate Metten (born 1991, Vancouver, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist whose material investigations into oil painting and ceramics deal primarily with the language of abstraction. Working at the intersection of those two histories allows a flexibility to address painterly concerns with clay, research into colour theory, visual perception and the still life, while also reflecting on Modernist philosophies of the Bauhaus, the unmaking of craft and material hierarchies. She is deeply concerned with phenomenology and the physicality of form. The internal logic of her artwork is determined by intuitive construction and response to material; Images and objects arise out of multi-layers of decision making to develop forms that are at once recognizable yet unfamiliar. The indexical quality of both painting and ceramic render dynamic impressions of mass and surface that preserve evidence of the hand and mind in motion. Metten’s preoccupation with the mechanics of looking, the psychological play of optical illusions, and our brain’s response to reductionist imagery confronts the viewer with the conditioning of their own perception.
EDUCATION
2017 BFA, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Van. BC
2009–2013 Concordia University, Montreal, QC
2012 Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina, USA
2009 Buschlen-Mowatt Scholarship Program, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, BC
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Monastic Living, GlogauAIR Showcase, Berlin Germany
2021 Atmospheric River, WAAP, Vancouver, BC
2020 Old Ideas, CSA Space, Vancouver, BC
2019 The Thinking Eye, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC
2019 Untitled, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver, BC
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Art and Design Exhibition BC Achievement Award, Roundhouse, Vancouver, BC
2023 Apparition Room, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2022 Open Studios, GlogauAIR, Berlin
2021 Combine, Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver, BC
2021 We Do Not Work Alone, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, BC
2021 Together Again, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC
2020 RHIZOM relation 29. Pinseruten 2020, Kunstkollektivet 8B, Denmark
2019 The Form Will Find Its Way: Contemporary Ceramic Sculptural Abstraction, NCECA, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
2019 Raiders, Terminal Creek Contemporary, Bowen Island, BC
2018 Legend, Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver, BC
2018 Thelma Ruck Keene Scholarship Show, Circle Craft, Vancouver, BC
2018 Leaning Out of Windows (LOoW), Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
2017 88 Artists from 88 Years, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC
2017 Monthly Open Studio, Vancouver Art Book Fair, Vancouver, BC
2017 Art Waste, James Black Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2017 Unofficial Grad Show, Vancouver, BC
2017 The Show, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
2016 Spatial Poetics, Neighbourhood Gallery, ECUAD, Vancouver, BC
2016 Suitcase Exchange, B-Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
2014 Art Quake, Roundhouse, Vancouver, BC
2011 We’ve Been Here Before, Art Matters Festival, Studio 303, Belgo, Montreal QC
2009 Space-Time/Parallels in Perception, Buschlen-Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, BC
PUBLIC ART
2019 Highland Rose, The Canada Line Art Installation, King Edward Station, Vancouver, BC
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2023 BC Achievement Award of Applied Arts and Design
2019 Maureen Wright Bursary, Northwest Ceramics Foundation
2017 Early Career Development Grant, BC Arts Council
2017 Thelma Ruck Keene Memorial Award for Ceramics, Vancouver, BC
RESIDENCIES
2022 Tools For Women, Makerlabs, Vancouver
2022 GlogauAir, Berlin, Germany
2020 Kunstkollektivet 8B, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC
2019 Visiting Artist, Material Matters Studio, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
CURATORIAL
*Upcoming 2023 Logan Kenler, Sweet Dreams, at Kate Metten Ceramics
2023 Ken Jeanotte, A Pale Caress (Deconstructing the Landscape), Capture Photography Festival, Kate Metten Ceramics, Vancouver, BC.
2023 Mitra Mahmoodie, Dancing in the Desert, Canadian Clay Symposium, Kate Metten Ceramics, Vancouver, BC.
2022 Liam McClure, Furniture Pop-Up, Kate Metten Ceramics, Vancouver
2022 Tara Dwelsdorf and Teresa Dorey, Inaugural Exhibition, Kate Metten Ceramics, Vancouver, BC.
PRESS
2023 North West Ceramics Foundation News https://www.nwcf.ca/news/
2023 Aesthetica Magazine Featured Artist
2022 Scout Magazine "Food and Clay are Coming Together at Two Special Dinners" https://scoutmagazine.ca/2022/11/07/food-and-clay-are-coming-together-at-two-special-dinners-nov-22nd-and-24th/
2022 Nuvo Magazine "Kate Metten Ceramics: Modern, Elevated Tableware in Vancouver" https://nuvomagazine.com/daily-edit/kate-metten-ceramics-modern-elevated-tableware-in-vancouver
2022 Scout Magazine https://scoutmagazine.ca/2022/08/16/head-to-main-st-for-a-ceramic-artist-pop-up-august-18-25/
2020 Art Toronto 2020 Pop Up @ SBC , https://www.artoronto.ca/?p=46156
2020 Kate Metten's Isolation Reading List, BAF, https://burrardarts.org/kate-mettens-isolation-reading-list/
2020 In Conversation: Kate Metten, BAF, https://burrardarts.org/in-conversation-kate-metten/
2020 BAF Insight video interview: https://burrardarts.org/
2019 "Design and Making: New Craft Symposium in Prince George"
2017 "Gingham: A Material Dialogue" Evan Sproat
2017 “The Show @ Emily Carr.” Creators Vancouver. May 12, 2017. creatorsvancouver.com/emily-carr-show/
2014 Interview regarding Art Quake installation, Roundhouse Radio. 983 Vancouver
2013 Featured artist, Interfold Magazine, Issue 1 : Confines, Montreal, QC. https://issuu.com/interfoldmagazine/docs/interfold_magazine
2009 “Space-Time/Parallels in Perception.” Skewed: The Unofficial UBC Online Art Magazine, Issue 6 (Sept/Oct). fantan.artvictoria.com/gallery/shows/skewed06.pdf
PUBLIC SPEAKING
2022, Artist Talk, Ceramic Kingdom, Berlin, Germany
2020, Lecture on Raw Materials, Potter’s Guild of British Columbia,
Burnaby, BC
2020, Contemporary Art Society Studio Visit, Vancouver, BC
2019 Artist Talk, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC
2019 New Craft Symposium, Emily Carr University, Van. BC
2019 New Craft Symposium, Two Rivers Gallery, PG, BC
2019 Artist Talk, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver, BC
INSTRUCTION
2017-2019 Roundhouse Community Centre, pottery instructor,
Vancouver, BC
2017-2019 Mina Totino, private ceramic instructor, Vancouver, BC
2015–2019 Douglas Park Community Centre, ceramic Instructor,
Vancouver, BC
2012 Creative Boost Ceramic Studio, ceramic technician, Montreal, QC
RELATED WORK
2022 Ubuntu Canteen five course dinner with custom tableware, Vancouver
2020 Alex Morrison Ceramic Construction, Monte Clark Gallery,
Vancouver, BC
2017 Gailan Ngan, Studio assistant, Vancouver and Hornby Island, BC
2017 Canadian Clay Symposium, volunteer, Shadbolt Centre of the Arts, Burnaby, BC
2016 Bocci, Material Research, Vancouver, BC
2016 READ books and Charles H. Scott Gallery, gallery attendant, Vancouver, BC
2016 Heather Dahl, studio assistant, Vancouver, BC
2016 Gallery of BC Ceramics, gallery attendant, Vancouver, BC
2015 Rath Art Supplies, canvas stretcher and retail assistant, Vancouver, BC
2012 Pikolo Café, custom ceramic dishes, Montreal, QC
2012 Creative Boost Ceramic Studio, studio technician, Montreal, QC
2009 Roundhouse Ceramic Studio, volunteer drop-in supervisor, Vancouver,
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
2018 Raiders Painting Group
2017 Member of the Potters Guild of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
SALES AND AUCTIONS
2023 TRAPP Projects, Annual Foodbank Pop-Up, Vancouver, BC
2023 Toque, Western Front, Vancouver BC
2020 Splash! Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, BC
2019 Annual Fundraising Auction, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2017 Pivots and Spins, Access Gallery, Vancouver BC
2017 Annual Fundraising Auction, Centre A, Vancouver, BC
2012 Expozine, Montreal, QC