We jump RIGHT in here - no introductions, no ceremony. Imagine you’re eavesdropping in on a *really* juicy conversation at the next table 😄.

This was a gorgeously connected, fun and insightful conversation with Kate Moores - expressive figurative artist and creator of Creative Hands Courses.

In this episode we really explore what it means to be an artist and how it feels to have had that suppressed from an early age. Kate openly talks about her lifelong struggles and why she is so full of joy and gratitude now, at the age of 50. We also talk about society’s attitudes towards “naked nudes” and our endemic prudishness - reflected in rules of ‘appropriateness’ and censorship - around the body in all its forms, both real and interpreted through art.

I really loved this convo and I feel there are so many deep truths in here for everyone - whether you relate as a creative or not. The part around body consciousness and attitudes is particularly resonant and topical right now.

Check out the timestamps below for teasers!

Watch this episode on Youtube:

01:05 Welcome to Kate’s studio!

The “messy” side and the “tidy” side

How we inhabit our spaces and make the most of them

02:55 Space, embodied expansion and energy

How are we limiting ourselves within our spaces?

04:05 On not caring what the neighbours think

Having open, deep conversations loud and proud

Breaking down old boundaries of “what’s acceptable”

06:25 The “rat race” lifestyle is being questioned

“There’s other ways of being”

07:55 How does Kate describe herself?

Her journey of liberation and gratitude

What she uses as a visual anchor every day

09:55 The hundred days’ project

How & why she committed to 100 days of life-drawing

“I have this old story of being a flake, of not being able to finish things.”

12:25 How she transformed her own body consciousness

“I thought it would be horrific”

“It’s really changed my body positivity”.

14:25 Intentionally using mood to influence her art

Creating intentionally-enhanced body art

Body-love and objective connectivity through sacred expression

16:40 Creating self-love pieces for others

“Hung on a wall, other people wouldn’t necessarily go, ‘OMG that’s YOU!’”

17:50 Movement and music in Kate’s art

“I just have to stand and move and dance while I’m drawing”

Embodied, energy-infused art vs static creation

19:50 “We’re often conditioned to sit and draw nicely”

Making the shift from the detailed, analytical and realistic to abstract, expressive and energetic

“I’m an emotional, expressive person, so it would be weird for my art to not be like that.”

22:05 “For me, it all stems really from not feeling seen or heard”

Suppression, permission and feeling dismissed as a person

How forced subject choice at school affects our entire sense of self

25:15 “I’ve absorbed this idea that I was not allowed to be an artist”

Coming back to art fully at the age of 50

The idea of productivity and usefulness in our expression

27:15 On having a “slash and burn mother”!

“I’m really adamant that we can change the whole myth around being a struggling artist”

Moving from a “father-approved job” to starting a business with her partner

31:25 Why life drawing?

Sensualty, synaesthesia and honouring the magnificence of the body

Getting messy and being inside a very visceral experience

37:25 “Expressing people through art - I think it helps them see something different in themselves”

Transmuting the self through art

How does it feel to be drawn?

39:10 “There’s something really ancient and primal about seeing it in materials”

Using charcoal and mark-making language

41:05 The prudishness reaction to seeing “naked nudes” on show!

“There’s this battle between personal safety and being expressive”

The problem with nipples…

43:40 “It’s predominantly the female form, predominantly from the male gaze”

Feeling exposed and uncomfortable in our own sexuality

There is NO NORM around female body choices - yet we feel deeply vulnerable in “showing” certain parts of ourselves

48:20 How social media automatically censors the body as an art form

“There’s still often things that have been looked at by a human being and they’ve gone, ‘No I still think that’s a bit rude’”

50:20 The balance between making money and following her soul-calling

“This does just set my soul on fire, because the human body is extraordinary”

How we tend to deny and ‘disinfect’ parts of our wholeness in seeking approval and conformity

52:50 The role of art in social change

Exploding the ‘average’, mainstream way of things and uncovering the breadth available to us

54:55 What motivates Kate each day to keep exploring this path?

“I have nothing to lose”

“Now I’m out, there’s no way anyone is putting me back in the box!”

56:35 On expressing our opinions and being heard

“Who wants to be a soulless box?”

Doing anything you want and living a limitless life

You can connect with Kate here:

https://www.katemooresartist.com

https://www.instagram.com/katemooresartist/

https://www.facebook.com/katemooresartist28

Find more about me at:

zoekmfoster.com

https://www.facebook.com/zoekmfoster

https://www.instagram.com/zoekmfoster

Get intimate with me in my studio! Join me Behind the Paint.

Hashtags

#seeyourselfinart #bodyloveportrait #bodypositiveart #bodypositivity #figurativeart #figurativepainting #figurativeartist #yorkshireartist #nyos #womenartist #figuredrawing #yorkshireartist #bodyloveportrait #selflove #selfbelief ⁠#nudeisnotrude #liveoutloud #celebratingthehumanbody#katemooresartist #figurepainting #lifefigurepainting#celebratingthehumanform #celebrateyourselfinart#abundancemindset #freakflag #boldandfree

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