About Kat

Katie Hagen (Kat), neé Mather

Artist as a way of being.

I paint as a way of seeing the world and making sense of things. I cannot not paint - It's who I am. Henry Millar (American artist / writer, 1891-1980) has a quote that resonates within me - “To paint is to love again, and to love is to live life to the fullest”

I began painting as a young child. At age 16 I travelled to Tuscany to study art as part of the school program ‘Cheshire Art in Tuscany’. It was here, while staying at the Sargiano monastery, located in the beautiful Italian hills of Arezzo, that I first began to understand painting as an integral part of who am I. The monks taught us how to find peace through simple acts of observation. For me, art is something I do, and artist is my state of being.

My art practice is deeply rooted in the feminine. In nature. In being. I feel most alive and most joyous when I’m tapping into my feminine energy. This is the space from which I create. My visual language derives from I. We. Us. and our shared humanity. I use texture, light, movement, glass, steel, wire, twigs, fire, water, air, earth, sounds and their inherent properties as ‘paint’ with which I am interpreting and expressing the subtle nuances of felt and embodied emotions.

My background is as both a Chartered Architect and Practicing Artist, educated at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot Watt University, Scotland, based in Norway since 1997. In 1997 my active art career was put on hold while I concentrated on building a career as an architect and starting my family. In 2013, I attended Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, Summer School, and it was here I recognised a deep desire to return to art. Since then I have participated in several short courses at both Slade and Goldsmiths University in London, was one of six artists in residence at the 'Scuola Internazionale di Grafica' in Venice during the Arts Biennale in June 2015 and have exhibited my work in galleries both in Norway and the UK.

In 2018 I stepped down as leader of my company Context AS, and away from architecture to work full time with my art.

In October 2021 I was hosted by Sjøholmen Kunst og Kulturhus in Bærum for my solo show ‘Simply Kat’ - an in depth body of works and a book developed over a 5 year period. My follow up show ‘The Missing Chapter…’ – a series of large installations and paintings, opened to the public 18 months later in June 2023.

ArtCHAT

In 2015 I began ArtCHAT - a 'not for profit' initiative. I initially worked with both local teenagers and those still waiting to be granted asylum in my current hometown, Rjukan, before I expanded and started travelling to other refugee centres and communities in Norway. I believe in the transformative power of art. I use artistic activities and expressive art facilitation as a tool to increase our awareness of self and our connection to others, as well as a tool to create a deeper understanding of identity, place and community. Learn more

Based in Rjukan and Oslo

Tel: +47 92281724 Email : kat@kat-art.no