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Art What’s On

Detail

Kathryn Williams is a Mercury Music Prize nominated folk singer and songwriter, novelist, podcaster and artist with 17 albums to her name. For this, her first solo exhibition in the North East, Kathryn presents tiny portrait paintings. These small works echo the tradition and fashion for painted miniatures observed in the court of Henry VIII and Francis I in the 1500’s. By painting these miniatures onto matchboxes – a household item – Kathryn subverts the hierarchy of paintings made solely for the elite. The matchboxes still contain some matches to show a practical purpose beyond their framed forms.