Build the Templum at Orleans House

I can finally tell you! Last August, Orelans House Stables Gallery offered me an amazing ten-week residency and solo show at their beautiful historic building, in London. Just today, they have extended the show by another week!

I’ve not been able to share this news until we had all of our funding applications submitted, our site visits were complete, and the crew assembled and confirmed. CHECK!

Here’s how it happened: please read - we do need your help to realize this project!

My residency will last all summer long and will culminate in a four-week solo show closing at the end of September. Since last August 2023, my team and I have been working hand in hand with the Orleans to make sure we are maximizing this amazing opportunity.

To that end, we have assembled an incredible crew of dedicated people who are donating a lot of time and energy (as much as we are legally allowed to accept). (See page 34 of our attached Arts Council England (ACE) funding application for a list of our confirmed collaborators – many of whom have already donated significantly).

Some of you may remember the Templum , the cave-like installation that I built at my studio in June 2023. We will be building a similar structure at this beautiful Grade 2 Historic Property in London.

The Orleans House Stables Gallery is about three times the size of the space in which I built the original Templum, and I have the luxury of six weeks to build, allowing us to create a truly unique structure. The residency will also offer an opportunity to collaborate with other performance artists, dancers, musicians, writers, and thinkers in a robust and exciting program of events that bring the Templum to life in a myriad of ways. This will be the first time in my career that I have a space for free and the luxury to take my time to build. To see the full scope of the project, our offerings, and plans, please see the attached Arts Council England Funding application, which details our financials, as well as our joint press release with Orleans House.

The challenge:

Though I have the space all summer, Orleans can only pay a stipend of 1500 pounds. Last August, when I was offered this extraordinary opportunity, the Arts Council in England was still giving robustly, and, working closely with Orleans, who themselves are financed by ACE, we felt very sure of our ability to get the project funded up to 30,000 pounds by the Arts Council.

Since we began our application process a few months ago, their funding has contracted violently, with sudden losses of funding across the London art scene. Though we are still in the pipeline, and our application meets all of their funding criteria, we are suddenly concerned about the funding.

We had planned to ask friends, family, and those who might want to support this first public opportunity for my practice to “match fund” the ACE funding of 29,999 pounds with an additional 15,000 pounds via donations of any size.

These “extra” match funds we are seeking from you are no longer extra.

So-called “extra” funds were to be put toward the hire of scissors lifts and help building, some sound and lighting equipment, and the professional and safe installation and set-up of these elements (as required by the Gallery), as well as material costs for a level-change and a meditation burrow. However, now, faced with the possibility that ACE may run out of funding, these funds are no longer “extra” but will help guarantee that we can deliver the project in its most basic form.

We are currently fundraising; my residency begins on 10 July. This is the date on which all materials should be delivered to the site, so we are hoping to complete our fundraising by 25 June, a month from now.

Please email project manager Sally Minns at: info at rupturexibit dot com with any questions or further instructions on how to support the project financially.

Keep your eyes out for fascinating developments that are all in the pipeline… here are a few things I can announce…

· I recently celebrated my first anniversary in my physical health recovery! I am one year out of bed, 225 yoga classes post cervical angina diagnosis, and much fitter now that my pancreas is healing from the pancreatitis that had me bed-bound. I am still recovering from the last six years spent mostly resting in bed, but I continue to heal and strengthen.

· I’ll graduate from Kingston University in July with a Master’s in Creative Writing. Surprise!

· I am working with literary agent Laetitia Rutherford from Watson, Little, a wonderful mid-sized London literary agency that develops genre-jumping texts into everything from books to BBC radio plays. She is working with me to bring several of my long-term projects which have been in development for years into realized form! I’m thrilled and honored to be building this relationship with her. Our first project is called The Practice, and you can read more about that below.

· We have some exciting studio visits from gallerists lining up around my first Open Studio in two years. I am thrilled to be hosting these visits. Spending this last year developing my practice rather than chasing a gallery has been painful financially, but incredibly important to the development of my practice, and led to these wonderful opportunities!

· I'm starting a Ph.D. at Leeds University in the fall – and we are previewing the paintings that formed the visual aspect of my proposal at the studio June 5-9, with live jazz and drinks on the 9th. You can find out more about it here: https://www.rupturexibit.com/open-studio-event. My project at Leeds University formally begins this fall. My research proposal is entitled Collecting Rape: Identification, Collation, Curation and Response to Every Item in the Victoria and Albert Museum and Archives that takes Rape as its Subject. You can read the short proposal on my Substack.

· I’ve been working as an artist's mentor since I moved to London, and as an executive coach for the past six months, using a program that I have been developing since 2013 called The Practice. I’m working with the London literary agency Watson, Little to bring this system to the public in the form of a book, talks, and seminars, which is thrilling.

For more information on mentoring and executive coaching and that developing project, please email Sally Minns at [email redacted] or read the PS. To this email to see if coaching can benefit you. I currently have two spots available for executive coaching. (If you’ve ever been on skis with me, it’s like that – but for your business self, rather than your skiing self.)

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Okay! If you’ve read this far you are a champ.

Thank you so much for your time, and if you can, your consideration in bringing this exciting project at Orleans House to life. Thank you for being someone who has expressed support and encouragement for my practice in the past.

I do know that the financial environment is very tricky during these intense times, we feel it in the extreme here in the UK as well. So, thanks just for reading. And do let me know if we will see you at the opening of the Open Studios or for the PV evening opening at the Templum!

Lots of Love!

Kate

PS. About Executive Coaching and Artist’s Mentoring

Did you know that I have expanded on my experience coaching in the mountains?

My varied life experiences allow me to share a unique perspective with mentoring and coaching clients - the vulnerable yet steely nature of the artist-entrepreneur, the risk management of the ski mountaineer, the acrobatic thinking of the downhill skier, the clarity and surrender of the yoga and meditation practitioner, and the practicality of someone who has faced a fatal diagnosis. I have developed these insights into a system called the Practice, and many of you know I’ve been working on some version of it since 2013.

Coaching sessions have proven especially helpful for folks who deal with imposter syndrome, fear, and anxiety, who run their teams, who are people pleasers, or who have a fear of conflict.

The Practice is at the intersection of the lessons I’ve learned from teachers and coaches around the globe, and from the experiences I’ve had. I have seen that there are a few very essential commonalities between all kinds of intense and personally challenging situations. I apply the system not only to help steer my own challenging projects through uncharted and unknown waters, but also to help CEOs and presidents of companies to work more efficiently, with less angst, drama, and energy drain and more focus, clarity, and energy. The Practice helps produce joy in your work – whether that is in an office or a studio.

If you are interested in executive coaching or know someone who could benefit from this program, I have availability for two private clients. I work internationally via Zoom. Please contact Sally at [email redacted] for more information on the Practice, and keep your eyes peeled for an exciting launch of this system as a course and book later in the year. (Note that at the moment, my mentoring and coaching are the primary revenue for the studio - it takes all the funds of one work to produce the next!)