Archive of Author | Katharine Dowson

About Katharine Dowson

Katharine Dowson studied sculpture at Camberwell College of Art before doing her MA at the Royal College of Art, where she won the Princess of Wales Scholarship. She has now gained international recognition, her work exhibited in London, the United States, Brazil and Asia. She has been collected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Wellcome Trust, The Arts Council Collection, Cultura Englesa Brazil, The Institute of Neuroscience Newcastle University amongst others and also by numerous private collectors. Charles Saatchi brought her work and she is included Shark Infested Waters, Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90's. Dowson has exhibited in ground breaking inter-disciplinary exhibitions that investigate the intersections between science, art and medicine. These include Spectacular Bodies, A History of Anatomical Art from Leonardo to Now at the Haywood Gallery London, Head On: Art with the Brain in Mind at the Science Museum London and Brains: Mind as Matter at The Wellcome Collection. Her most recent work has involved close interaction with the international scientific community to showcase the latest scientific innovation and discoveries through an artistic medium. In 2014 Katharine was one of 30 artists world-wide to be commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the project ‘Art of Saving a Life’, to celebrate the World Health Authorities 40 years of mass immunisation. In 2015 she was the first artist to exhibit in Oxford University’s Chemistry Department with her solo show Sculpting Science.

Katharine Dowson studied sculpture at Camberwell College of Art before doing her MA at the Royal College of Art, where she won the Princess of Wales Scholarship. She has now gained international recognition, her work exhibited in London, the United States, Brazil and Asia. She has been collected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Wellcome Trust, The Arts Council Collection, Cultura Englesa Brazil, The Institute of Neuroscience Newcastle University amongst others and also by numerous private collectors. Charles Saatchi brought her work and she is included Shark Infested Waters, Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90’s.

Dowson has exhibited in ground breaking inter-disciplinary exhibitions that investigate the intersections between science, art and medicine. These include Spectacular Bodies, A History of Anatomical Art from Leonardo to Now at the Haywood Gallery London, Head On: Art with the Brain in Mind at the Science Museum London and Brains: Mind as Matter at The Wellcome Collection. Her most recent work has involved close interaction with the international scientific community to showcase the latest scientific innovation and discoveries through an artistic medium. In 2014 Katharine was one of 30 artists world-wide to be commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the project ‘Art of Saving a Life’, to celebrate the World Health Authorities 40 years of mass immunisation. In 2015 she was the first artist to exhibit in Oxford University’s Chemistry Department with her solo show Sculpting Science.

https://katharinedowson.com/

Articles with Katharine Dowson

The Beautiful Brain

Katharine Dowson’s inspiration comes from nature, medicine and the scientific world as she often collaborates with scientists as part of her artistic practice. These include researchers investigating genetics, dyslexia and Parkinson’s disease, producing intricate casts of her own heart and brain from MRI scans. Her sculptures are made in various media but especially transparent materials and glass, which she uses as a metaphor for a membrane, a fragile yet robust skin that allows light to pass through and reveal the hidden interior within.