MAWDSLEY, Kate
Susan Kate Mawdsley grew up in the coastal town of Formby in Lancashire and moved to London to study fashion and textiles at Middlesex University. She spent the next twenty years in London, working freelance designing textiles for many high street fashion stores both in the UK and America. Her career evolved, moving into commercial illustration where she designed all things from mugs to kitchen textiles and paper products. Exhibiting annually in New York for thirty years her work was created by hand using water colour and inks but also by computer, each final image being a digital file. Inspired particularly by pre-Raphaelite and Impressionist artists, Kate’s work concentrates specifically on animals, wildflowers, and other elements of the natural world. Working mainly in gouache or watercolour, Kate made her living initially as an illustrator and as a designer of fashion textiles, but now concentrates on her successful design work, with over 25 years' experience in artlicensing. Kate has developed a significant international customer base which included Aga, Harrods, and Dunoon Ceramics plus many popular greetings card companies. With the arrival of the internet, she was able to relinquish her London studio and work from home whilst dealing with her customers, moving to Suffolk where she has lived for some twenty-five years. Joining Sudbourne Park Printmakers has given Kate the opportunity to compliment her skills and return to a more hands-on style of work with relief printing presenting different challenges and disciplines. Kate is a member of Suffolk Open Studios from her studio at Liberty Cottage, Rumburgh, Halesworth, Suffolk.