About

Hello! Welcome to my website.
My name is Kate Rattray and I’m the Dreaming Lark.
I’m a Devon artist working in Lino printmaking, pen and ink, painting and writing after changing direction from 30 years as a professional mosaic artist, having made many mural mosaics and sculptures based on stories, histories and mythologies.
Walking and sketching on Dartmoor and the coast of Devon and Cornwall have become not only inspiration but a quest for the sublime, historical and the mythical, and my sketches and photos become references for Lino cuts I make in my studio. Sometimes when the weather is calm and I find a quiet spot I carve and print the Lino on the moors.
Without a press in the studio I began by using my feet to press my prints (also very useful on the moors). Recently I acquired a small hand press however I have returned to using my feet sometimes with the addition of a baren worked by hand as I find they are the best way for me to get a good print. Using my feet to print somehow feels poignant, analogous to the relationship with my feet walking the land, which in turn echoes and conjures a spiritual connection with our ancestors who have walked and danced on Dartmoor from 10,000 years BC onwards.
I am also exploring making paper and inks from plants and stones foraged around the area. These experiments further enhance the interconnectedness of my quest.
In 2024 I gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Poetics of Imagination at Dartington Schumacher college . I had enrolled for an MA , however the course was unfortunately cancelled after my 2 modules so I was not able to complete. Nevertheless I learnt a lot from my studies and research in magic and mythology, folklore, Shakespeare, animism and the ancestral knowledge of deep time. On the course I wrote stories, songs and essays, performed dances, made videos and my first woodcut prints all squeezed into 14 weeks.
As I learn and weave all the threads of knowledge together I hope to make interesting and inspiring art works that reflect my quest.