Cate Watkinson

Cate Watkinson, through her company Watkinson Glass Associates design and make architectural glass to commission for a wide variety of settings; these include decorative glass panels for public and private buildings, street furniture and public art sculpture. Cate also designs quality bespoke furniture, mirrors and glasswork for the home or corporate environment. Cate has been working as a glass artist and designer since 1988. In that time, she has built up an extensive body of public art work and private commissioned pieces throughout the UK and has exhibited gallery pieces internationally. Over the past 20 years she has successfully completed a varied range of commissioned projects from glass public seating in city centres to a 7m high sculpture for a shopping mall. From a stained glass window for Newcastle Cathedral to a laminated glass screen for the Arrivals Hall at Newcastle International Airport in the UK. She trained in the traditional skills of stained glass making including, glass cutting and leading. Over the years she has developed the skills and knowledge gained from working in the traditional methods to bring a fresh slant and new techniques and ideas to her contemporary work. Most of her time is now taken up with designing and making glass work for the public realm. She is interested in ideas around the sustainability agenda and continues to develop her work in a range of different materials, designing not only the glass element of a piece but the whole structure. Landforms, the elements and the ever-changing complexities of nature serve as the dominant influence behind the work. The designs explore the natural environment capturing the dramatic and gentle forms moulded and impressed on the landscape by nature itself. The shapes that result from the blasting, baking and erosion of the earth hold a never ending attraction and can be seen, repeated in different ways in organic forms.