Meet our artist community: Q&As
Part of an ongoing series, members of our artist community share insights about their work, their stories and their relationship to ACAVA. Visit this page to read more.
Kite Myers is one of three winners of last year’s ACAVA Hosts: Three Counties Open Residency. In partnership with Keele University and the Three Counties Open Art Exhibition, the three winning artists will each benefit from a one-month-long residency at ACAVA Spode Works Studios in Stoke-on-Trent. Kite’s residency will run from 22 April to 22 May 2024. Learn more about the programme here.
Read on to learn more about her approach to needle-felt sculpture, interest in empathy and fungi, and plans for her upcoming residency at ACAVA Spode Works Studios.
Your name?
Kite Myers
Your type of art practice?
Sculpture, predominantly needle-felt, but I also work with other materials such as cardboard and metal from time to time.
Would you like to tell us about yourself?
I’m a 27-year-old white female, and I use she/her pronouns. I was born and raised in Manchester. We moved around a little in my teens but I settled in Stoke at the start of my artist journey at 22 years old.
What are your plans for your upcoming residency at ACAVA Spode Works Studios?
The site is such an interesting space, full of interesting people. I plan to use the site to experiment with photographing my existing sculptures in new and unusual spaces. I would also love to use this time to get to know the artists in my community, potentially having some informal “crit” type sessions, to discuss what we’ve been working on and get some feedback. Art is about conversations and creative spaces are often where the best conversations happen.
What kind of art do you make?
Predominantly sculpture – mostly needle felted, but I’ve also experimented with metalwork and cardboard. I am also looking to work with Lino Printing in the future.
What themes are you interested in?
Anthropology and Ethnocentrism fascinate me and have contributed heavily to my practice for a while now. The initial point of interest was general Empathy and how that pertains to our connection to human forms. However, my research into the social sciences, as well as current world events have changed how I look at my practice and shaped how I want to tackle some of these conversations going forward.
Mycelium and mushroom imagery have also been central anchor points to my practice, working as a proxy to represent our connection with nature, and how we would be unable to function as living creatures without fungi.
Who are your artistic influences?
Patricia Piccinini and Ron Mueck have been my biggest influences for years. They are immense sculptors who can capture profound emotion and empathy within their work. Piccinini’s hybridised animal-humans are so uncanny that they invoke intense feelings of sadness and wonder all at once, her work made me want to push the bounds of what art could be and say when I was going through a difficult time within my practice.
What inspires you to make art?
It’s difficult to say initially – I’ve always been creative, I was never academic as a child and would spend all my time sculpting with playdough or drawing. Then as I got older it became more prevalent in my life, but I only ever made things for myself. I didn’t even know that being an “artist” was an option available to me until I became an adult. Now I mostly make art because I have things to say, but I also think it’s just built into some people.
What inspires you to keep making art?
The more time I spend contemplating it, the more I see art as a form of protest, as much as a way to bring beauty to the world. As our government makes more and more pushes towards defunding the arts altogether, I find myself needing to push back. Art can speak truth to power, it is also often art that stands the test of time, and pulls the truth of history along with it, and I think that is vitally important. I also keep making art for myself, it is very much my happy place.
Did you study art?
I did, I graduated from Fine Art at Staffordshire University in 2023, and am currently studying for my MA in Contemporary Arts Practice, also at Staffordshire University. I adored my time on my course, Staffs is a brilliant institute to study art at, and my lecturers are all professional artists themselves so their knowledge and understanding of the art world are incredibly valuable. I learnt a lot over my undergrad about myself and what I wanted to make art about, and intend to continue that same intensity of learning through my postgrad.
What materials do you use? What do you like about those
Wool is my primary material of choice, it is a natural material, that has a rich history within England. With wool being a natural, organic material, it means my sculptures remain organic. If I were to bury one of my sculptures, it would decompose, like a human body would.
When I use other materials, I generally like to stay within natural materials or use recycled/waste materials, where possible.
Can you tell us about your artistic career so far?
As I mentioned earlier, I studied my undergrad at Staffs uni. During that time I had my degree show, which was a brilliant experience and from that, I was able to be a part of the A-N Degree Show Guide 2023, which was my first big publication. Since then, I have been a part of a few exhibitions, the most recent and exciting being with DUST Rising, a Stoke-on-Trent-based CIC that invites graduates to be part of an exhibition every year. This exhibition is still on, at the Signal Box, Goods Yard in Stoke-on-Trent, and is a collaboration with Capital & Centric and Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The whole experience has been a huge honour and I’ve gained a lot from it.
Do you collaborate with others? Who with / how?
I’m lucky to have some brilliant friends. Recently a few friends and myself created an art collective named croK. Me, Lorna Lakin and Poppy Deacon created croK and although it is still very new, we are hopeful for the future, and what we can build from it.
Where do you want to take your art next?
I’m taking it one day at a time but, collaborating with artists and art groups, making the art I want to make, and having a sustainable artistic career, are all my goals for the future.
Do you have an art studio? If so, how has having an art studio impacted your practice?
I’m lucky that I got a good studio space as part of my MA course. I’m yet to have to manage without one, but I know it would be difficult given the size of the sculptures I make.
Do you have any upcoming shows or events?
Nothing upcoming at the moment, however the Red, Amber, Green exhibition with Dust Rising is currently still up, until 21 April. Please visit their Instagram for more information on dates and times.
