Katie Watson - Multidisciplinary Artist and Facilitator
About the artist
Katie is a visual artist and experienced arts facilitator based in Gateshead, working across the North East. Her facilitation practice focuses on delivering inclusive, accessible and engaging workshops with a wide range of community groups. Over the last seven years she has worked with charities, schools, arts organisations, health services and local authorities delivering workshops with a diverse range of participants, including neurodivergent and learning disabled adults and children, mental health groups, individuals with hearing and sight impairments, school groups and youth clubs.
Since 2018, Katie has been Lead Artist at The HUB Studio, delivering a tailored programme of developmental and experimental visual arts and sensory workshops for adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities. These sessions are developed around shared themes, with adapted approaches for different abilities and access needs. Activities include drawing, printmaking, collage and mixed-media construction, using both professional and DIY techniques. Workshops are participant-led, focusing on self-expression, collaboration, skills development and a supportive group environment.
Outside of the HUB Studio, she works on a freelance basis with organisations such as Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle Council and Sunderland Culture. These workshops range from weekly youth clubs, to mental wellbeing focused sessions, to drop-in family workshops. While she often works with a focus on pattern, colour, construction and the everyday object, her workshops are very varied and often respond to specific events or artworks.
In her own studio practice, she currently works between marquetry and painting, translating complex diagrammatic material into playful compositions. These works investigate a universal visual language, as well as study traditional methods of construction and maintenance.
