katie mawson
katie mawson Gleanings
Essay by M. J. White, PhD
katie mawson
Gleanings
Forever Searching
2023
31 x 26 cm
To gather information or material bit by bit
From books, one can glean knowledge, wisdom and insights. The artist Katie Mawson, however, gleans damaged hardback books at the end of their lives from charity shops that can’t sell them. What Mawson prizes are the cloths that cover the boards of these books. Use, wear and tear, accident and weathering all leave their indelible marks on these cloths because every old book, like their readers, has a past life. To the artist’s discerning eye, the beauty of these cloths is in their unique, variegated patina which they slowly acquire over time as the marks of their history become gradually more apparent. These careworn book cloths are both palette and canvas to Mawson, and they are re-born as unique artworks.
In the dozens of exhibitions in which Mawson’s work has featured over the last five years, many have praised the vibrancy and luminosity of her art. It reminds some of the Colour Field paintings of the American Abstract Expressionists, especially the rectangular forms of Mark Rothko, (1903–1970).
At the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition , 2025, in which two of the artist’s pieces were included, (p. 6), comparisons were drawn with the Ocean Park series of another esteemed American painter,
Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993). While these allusions are not inaccurate, they overlook the singular nature of Mawson’s practice. In my opinion, it is the process behind Mawson’s work, what I call her gleaning, that renders her work particularly distinctive. In fact, a more apposite art-historical reference might be to a masterpiece by Jean-Francois Millet (1814–1875): Des glaneuses ( The Gleaners ). Painted in 1857, and now in the collection of the Musée D’Orsay, The Gleaners shows three women hard-at-work gleaning the stray ears of wheat after a harvest. Of course, the comparison between what Mawson does and Millet’s heroic gleaners should not be pushed too far. It is a loose analogy. However, the artist shares with these noble figures her humble pursuit of left-behinds, left-overs and cast-offs. What is discarded by others has value to her. Persistence and patience also play a central role in Mawson’s
Amore 2022
28 x 22 cm
Made with Love 2025
30 x 48 cm
Luminosity 2024
40 x 40 cm
gleaning. First, the artist seeks out the shabby and neglected books that are the raw materials of her art. Then the cloths must be separated from their boards (a deconstruction that is the necessary prelude to their reconstruction as something new) before they are fastidiously ordered in colour groups on shelves in her studio.
As a result of what they have endured over time, each cloth has tarnished, discoloured and faded uniquely. These colour swatches are as important to Mawson as tubes of oil paint are to a painter.
A new work starts with the artist sampling various cloths from the studio shelves. Next, she starts playing with the cloths. Arranging and re-arranging; striving to balance colour, texture, and shape; continually pondering how positive and negative spaces interrelate.
My Time in France
Simple Gesture 2023
Which colours and shapes sit comfortably together? And which do not? An idea or feeling might be pursued initially only for it to evolve, sometimes dramatically, because colours and shapes themselves suggest a new direction. Mawson embraces this fluidity. This is exciting until, sometimes, it is not. Making can be daunting, frustrating, or occasionally hopeless, as when a promising new avenue of investigation suddenly turns out to be a dead-end. The problem of when to stop is ever-present and there is a danger of over-working each piece. However, the artist has learnt to trust her instincts, and endeavours to stick to the mantra that less is always more. Recently, Mawson has started working in a more precisely dexterous manner in which shards of cloth are combined to create what she calls “colour, shape and texture narratives”.
18 x18 cm
My Lake 2024
31 x 26 cm
As is the case with most abstract art, it is tempting to try and interpret the interplay of shape and colour in Mawson’s artwork as pictorial in meaning or reference. Sometimes the titles that the artist gives her work encourage this way of thinking. For example, it seems reasonable to assume that My Time in France, 2023 (p. 10) refers to the residency that Mawson was awarded at Studio Faire in Nérac, SouthWest France, as does I Colori di Milis, 2025 (p. 30), created during her art residency Nocefresca in Milis, Sardinia. When we discover that the artist lives in England’s Lake District, perhaps many of her works are depictions of the ever-changing weather in that awe-inspiring region? And, in the gorgeous deep blues and ovoids of My Lake , 2024, for instance, might we be looking at an illustration of the artist’s open water swimming at sunrise, which she enjoys throughout the year? However, I would encourage anyone who loves Mawson’s art to resist this perfectly natural tendency to draw logical inferences from her work. After all, many of the artist’s other titles are as elliptical as the forms that feature regularly in her artworks. Moreover, I contend that we get most from her work if we approach it in a way that mirrors the process of its making. If we look for relationships between shapes and colours just as Mawson does. If we allow ourselves to enjoy the play of forms, just like the artist. If we look for patterns from within the artworks themselves rather than grasping at extrinsic meaning. And if we marvel at how humble, shabby book cloths can be transfigured into aesthetically powerful and emotionally connective artworks in the expert hands of Ka tie Mawson.
M. J. White, P h D
Be My Friend
The Conversation Flows 2024 30 x 30 cm
Here for Awhile 2024
28 x 22 cm
Scattered 2022
20 x 17 cm
Look Twice
2022
17 x 20 cm
Glowing 2025
28 x 22 cm
To Blossom 2023
18 x 18 cm
Beguiled 2023
31 x 28 cm
Field of Dreams 2025 30 x 30 cm
To be Silent 2024
31 x 28 cm
Sublime Consciousness
x 26 cm
When the Light Gets In
29 x 23 cm
Feeling Good 2023
31 x 38 cm
By Your Side
Where Do I Belong
28 x 22 cm
Colour Planes
2025 18 x 18 cm
18 x 18 cm
Untitled 2022
17 x 20 cm
What Will Be
2023
28 x 22 cm
A Certain Vitalit y 2023
31 x 46 cm
katie mawson
education
1982 Foundation Art Course
Carlisle College of Art
1983–86 Camberwell School of Art
BA Honours, Textile Design
group exhibitions
2025 Small is Beautifu l, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London.
Glasshouse Contemporary , London
Christmas Exhibition , Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
172nd Annual Open Exhibitio n, Royal West Gallery, Bristol
Abstract Aesthetic , Gallery 57, Arundel, West Sussex
Flow and Form , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Summer Exhibitio n, Royal Academy, London
Summer Exhibition , Gallery Nine, Bath
On the Same Page , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
2024 Burning Desire , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Small is Beautiful , Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London
Gallagher and Turner Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Alchemy of Light , Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
Passages , Sacks and Bird Gallery, London
2023 Truly Desired , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Small is Beautifu l, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London
I Colori di Milis
2025
31 x 26 cm
Inspiration, Milis, Sardinia
Linear Construction , Smithson, Projects, Bristol
The Other Art Fair, London
Cra fting a Difference , Design Centre, London
Katie Mawson and Tom Hammic k, Jaggedart, Marylebone,London
The Other Art Fair, London
Silson Contemporary, Harrogate
2022 Object of Desire , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Katie Mawson , Gallery Nine, Bath
Small is Beautiful , Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London
The Other Art Fair, London
Decorative Art Fair, Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Tint and Pigment , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Blue , Gallery 57, Arundel, West Sussex
Fresh Air Sculpture , Pool House Gallery, Quennington
Artefact , The Design Centre, London
The London Art Fair, London
The Other Art Fair, London
Inspiration, Paxos, Greece
2021 Three Artists , Irving Contemporary, Oxford
Arte fact , The Design Centre, London
Atelier Beside the Sea, Brighton
Nadia Waterfield Fine Art,Hampshire
The Collection , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Crafting a Difference , Soshiro, London
2020 Rapt Beauty Wrapped , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
A Natural Christmas , Gallery Top, Derbyshire
Material Conversations , Jaggedart, Marylebone London
Re-flourish , Jaggedart
Marylebone, London.
2019 The Sculpture Show , Bankside Gallery, London
On the Same Page , Jaggedart, Marylebone, London
Brighton Art Fair, Lewes, West Sussex
Mylo Art, Littledown, Hampshire
The Other Art Fair, London
2018 The Other Art Fair, London
Quiet Reflection
2025
28 x 22 cm
design
Elizabeth Finger www.elizabethfingerdesign.com
photography
All photographs Katie Mawson, except pp. 2–3 Colin Usher
printing
The Studley Press, USA
cover
Untitled , 2022 17 x 20 cm
inside front cover
Dreams , 2025 28 x 22 cm
frontis
Katie Mawson in the studio during her residency at Studio Faire in Nérac, South-West France, in 2023
contact
www.katiemawsonart.com katiemawson9 @ aol.com @ katiemawsonart
Katie Mawson at home
www.katiemawson.com
