K Shields

kate shields | art | k shields | Substack I write about my art, processes and research. Click to read kate shields | art, by k shields, a Substack publication. Launched 3 years ago.

I’m not really giving BlueSky the attention it needs so stepping back for a while.
If you like my work you can sign up for my monthly(ish) creative updates here:
kateshields.substack.com 💗

a world in a sauna I'm doing a residency in a sauna + 'I HATE SOCIAL MEDIA'

Starting tomorrow i'll be artist in residence at a local community sauna for the whole of June- what a perfect thing for a sauna-loving artist like me!
I wrote about this and some related stuff here:
kateshields.substack.com/p/a-world-in...

A smashed iPhone laying on a concrete floor. The screen is white and black and yellow hols text ‘I hate social media’

If you’re a freelancer/creative/run a non-profit/small business and find it hard to manage your socials, I’ve only gone and started a monthly email offering tips, hacks & resources to try and help make things a bit easier (it’s my day job!)
Sign up here: eepurl.com/jfADZk

We’re so hungry for truly queer, non-corporate spaces Omg. I’m particularly excited about the ‘Nerf the Terf’ tent. 🔫

A woodland nook in a sunny field. Looking out over a wooden fence, there is a small treehouse stage in the distance amongst the trees.

A small nuclear standing stone in an expanse of grass. To the right two people are walking across the grass and smiling

Two people stand on the steps of a small wooden stage in a woodland clearing.

A very cute site visit ahead of Camp Kindred, a non-profit, brand-free queer gathering I’m involved in coming up this July, somewhere in East Sussex.
It can’t happen without you, so book a camping ticket now if you want to be part of the inaugural event! campkindred.uk

It is very very important that money keeps coming into @goodlawproject.bsky.social fundraisers in the light of this. We have no billionaire funders, so we must do it ourselves.

🚨 With Awaab’s Law coming into effect and the Renters' Rights Bill due to become law later this year, this is a crucial time to make sure renters’ voices are heard. 

That’s why we’ve just launched our yearly Renters Survey!

An abstract, composite digital shape on a bright yellow background. The shape consists of 4 merged jagged objects with jagged edges, one of stone, 2 are almost like glass. They are earthy tones, blues, greys and dusty pink

Fun with stone and glass textures in Blender

If you’re getting an ‘adult content’ button, it’s just a life drawing, don’t worry

A bright greenish yellow background with black digital meshes of stones forming a section of a stone circle

A portrait of me, an artist with dark short hair wearing a black vest top and red lipstick, standing infront of a projection of my work ‘organsongs’. A pink hazy organic shape is projected across my face and body as I turn my head slightly to the right of the scene.

A selection of experimental life drawings on brown paper. 3 large figures drawn with charcoal and pale skin-toned chalk. The lines are smudged and smeared giving the appearance of movement.

A little reminder that I send out a monthly substack feat. upcoming projects, ideas & research plus news from my biome (friends + connections!)
If youre into my work but, like me, trying to limit social media usage, sign up here: kateshields.substack.com

A piece of paper featuring brightly coloured hand drawn maps laying on a dark green blanket. There are legs of 2 people just visible around it.

The cover of the TTRPG ‘a quiet year’ held in my hand, with green grass, wildflowers and bushes in the background

A cool workshop yesterday: we played TTRPG worldbuilding game A Quiet Year, then some speculative writing about the worlds we’d created at the Art Research Garden organised by Hildegard’s Garden Society (hildegardsgardeningcompanions.cargo.site)

Saw this edited chalk board at a gallery and now all I can think about is what it’s like to be hugged by eels.

Eek this is a bit good. The other side of a later-in-life diagnosis is a fucking nightmare. My unmasking technique looks a lot like not-leaving-the-house these days.

Blindboy is always good but this is VERY good

An image of a yellow sand circle full of small stones in a large empty church space. Text overlaid reads: ‘FUTURE STONES a look back at my week-long residency at Fabrica Gallery + other stuff’

Part 1 of a wide digital artwork. A bright yellow/green background with a selection of stones seen as black meshes.

Part 2 of the image, showing the other side of the image.

Slowly getting over my 2nd covid infection, which means I finally put the finishing touches to my May substack about my Fabrica residency and sent it out into the world. Do have a read! This was such a joyful project:
kateshields.substack.com/p/future-sto...

Screenshot from Disco Elysium. A run down street with ‘UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI’ painted in red letters.

Spent most of my 2nd time with COVID playing #DiscoElysium
I’m just really sad I couldn’t get Lieutenant Kim to trust me.

A laptop showing a bright orange and pink pattern sits on a white desk surrounded by cables and projectors. Projections cover the walls from different sources.

Fab time at PlayOffice in Portsmouth this weekend learning projection mapping in TouchDesigner alongside a fun & diverse group of creatives. PlayOffice is an accessible creative tech studio. Love to see places like this!: www.play-office.com

A plague on a brick wall reads ‘This stone was found wedges in a hole in the bottom of the Frigate HMS PiQUE C. Captain the Hon H.J Rous R.ND when the ship was docked in Portsmouth in Oct 1835. The PIQUE had run ashore in the Belle Isle Straits, Labrador, in Sept of that year. After refloating herself she sailed across the Atlantic without a rudder & with pumps continuously manned to control her leaks. But for this stone, acting as a plug to one of the larger holes, she would certainly have foundered. A splendid feat of seamanship.’

In Portsmouth for a workshop, and I stumbled across the ‘Pique stone’, which apparently saved a ship from sinking in 1835 by plugging a hole following damage when it ran ashore? @stoneclub.bsky.social

‘Drawing with stones’- an experimental life drawing session ran as a collaboration with the brilliant Jane Fordham as part of my Making Space residency at fabrica gallery last week. Stones! Drawing!

An 1857 visualisation of the animal kingdom, tree-of-life inspired but curly and swishy and elegant.

Absolutely adore the elegance of this. Love having a job where I stumble over this kind of stuff in the (digital) archives!

A large church hall, with soft morning light through tall windows illuminating a circle of stones on the wooden floor.

An empty church hall with a wooden floor and tall stained glass windows at one end

….caught the stone circle in this gorgeous morning light at Fabrica on the final day of my residency here.
The stones are on their way back to their owners, the sand swept away with a big broom. This residency has been such a joy!

A close up of a hand anointing a stone with oil.

A hand holds a slip of paper that reads “the symbolic aspect of lots of special stones making their way to another point of connection.”

A long table covered with cut outs of words on white paper being organised into a different order

A ceremonial metal bowl in the centre of a yellow circle of sand filled with water and yellow rose petals. Next to it is a paper scroll tied with a yellow ribbon. Smoke drifts in from the top right of the image.

The final day of my Making Space residency culminated with a closing ritual, featuring a spoken word piece created from the words, memories and feelings gathered in stone sharing workshops. ✨

Thanks! It’s been magical :)

The final drawing in the first post includes a poem about hagstones, written by their dad who had passed away recently. They told us the family all got hagstone tattoos, and then another person in the room said ‘I have one too!’
Magic stones ✨

A digital 3D scan of a selection of stones, viewed as black mesh files over a bright nuclear yellow/green background

Each stone was washed, anointed and finally 3D scanned before being adding to the circle. Loved the autistic synchronicity of late night stone circle scan editing whilst listening to the latest @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social- stone circles/Irish mythology/fairy forts & anthrax in the soil. ☢️

A group of people within an old church engaged in a series of tasks. Some are around a square table covered in paper and materials. Some are standing near a large yellow circle made of sand.

A close up of a miniature standing stone, black and white patterned, stands on a wooden floor covered in yellow sand. In the background is a line of other stones, just out of focus.

A person wearing a black skirt and top bends over placing a stone within a large yellow circle on a wooden floor.

A sketch of a hagstone with a poem written around it by someone named Jem Verse. 01/04/25

Day 3 of my residency FUTURE STONES at Fabrica.
Ran 2 stone & story sharing group workshops today, where we talked, drew and listened, before building a collaborative stone circle within the space.
Such a lovely day of community warmth & creativity (& a love of stones!)✨
@stoneclub.bsky.social

An old wooden floor, illuminated by a strip of sunlight. There are markings on the floor made using bright yellow sand.

Hands holding out a large flat piece of quartz stone, which glistens in the light

A piece of paper with a list of words written in charcoal: ‘heart earth smooth closed secret black back’ The name ‘Jane’ appears at the top.

A continuous line drawing on white paper of two intertwined figures walking

A brilliant day drawings with stones with Jane Fordham and her experimental life drawing group at Fabrica gallery.

I’ve modelled for Jane’s sessions myself for over 10 years now, and so as part of my residency I invited Jane to collaborate on this session.

Such a great day drawing & talking STONES

A Celtic tarot spread on a wooden church floor

An old church with a grey concrete floor: in the centre of the floor is a stone circle made of yellow and silver paper stones, bright yellow sand, and flowers.

A long wooden table up against a white wall. On the table is a selection of books. Hanging on the wall is a ordnance survey map of Brighton.

A screen shot from a phone showing a 3D digital scan of a rainbow-tinged stone.

Peaceful first day of my Making Space residency at Fabrica: ‘Future Stones’.
Making circles, scanning stones and setting up for workshops.
(And a tarot reading to start ofc)

Illegally Female The UK's Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that trans women are not legally considered women.

What will happen to us un-women? My thoughts on today’s UK Supreme Court decision excluding trans women from the legal category of women. Over at Autostraddle: www.autostraddle.com/uk-supreme-c...

If you’re headed to Ed Fringe, Emma will be doing a solo version of this show there this year. I might be a bit biased but it’s a beautiful, moving, funny show about identity, 90s nostalgia, queerness, transness…and ofc Nirvana. More here: www.emmafrankland.co.uk/work/no-apol...