'Our Layered Lives' by Kate Fizharris

Kate Fitzharris is well known for her hand made cloth and ceramic figures. Her most recent series incorporate small beads of clay, beeswax, thread and woollen spencers made from the off cuts in the assembly of her dolls. ‘I have been seeing the beauty in these normally forgotten pieces of the process and I want also to honour the process of making, the materials themselves. These strings of beads are ways to mark the passing of time, to pray for the future, and also to act as testament to the answering of prayers.’ The huia beak in ‘Things We Have Left Behind’ evokes the beauty and life of the past that is lost to us now. The recurring imagery of hands in several works relates to the act of making whilst acknowledging the importance of hands to the artist. ‘They allow me to make things, to touch my family and they can also speak a language themselves in the gestures they make.’