Kate Just was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1974 and moved to Melbourne permanently in 1996. She is known for her diverse practice encompassing large-scale sculptural knitted work, mixed-media installation, collage and digital print. In earlier works, Just drew on myth and folklore linking women and nature to create elaborate, knitted figures and environments which metaphorically explored her own autobiographical experiences. In more recent work, Just mines archaeology, art history, and symbology to create installations of mysterious tools and objects which explore women’s ongoing link to the spaces of and around the body.
Boundary (LOVE)
cardboard, knitted wool, hot glue
Photograph: Christian Capurro
Paradise
hand knitted, machine knitted and hand rug-hooked wool, clay, fibreglass, plastic, metal, glue, 150 x 300 x 280cm
collection: Ararat Regional Art Gallery
My Daphne
hand knitted, machine knitted and hand rug-hooked wool, clay, fibreglass, plastic, timber, papier mache, expanding foam, glue, 160 x 80 x 80cm
photograph: Kate Just
Shed That Skin
hand knitted metallic thread, 5 x 80 x 350cm
Photograph: Kate Just
The Garden of Interior Delights
hand and machine knitted wool and acrylic yarns, cardboard, wire, tape, plastic tubing, rope, 380 x 220 x 65cm
photograph: Nicole Breedon
collection: City of Port Phillip
Bombshell
suite of seven collages on archival paper, 76 x 56cm each (now framed 83 x 63cm)
installation view: Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Photograph: Simon Strong
Bombshell (Brenda)
collage on archival paper, 76 x 56cm, 83 x 63cm (framed)
Photograph: Simon Strong
Collection: Artbank
Bombshell (Mirena)
collage on archival paper, 76 x 56cm, 83 x 63cm (framed)
Photograph: Simon Strong
Collection: Artbank
Bombshell (Estelle)
collage on archival paper, 76 x 56cm, 83 x 63cm (framed)
Photograph: Simon Strong
Collection: Artbank
Bombshell (Alesse)
collage on archival paper, 76 x 56cm, 83 x 63cm (framed)
Photograph: Simon Strong
Bombshell (Juliet)
collage on archival paper, 76 x 56cm, 83 x 63cm (framed)
Photograph: Simon Strong
Inward Gathering
Installation view, Nellie Castan Gallery. Photograph: Simon Strong
Her Keys
epoxy modelling compound, enamel paint, shoe polish, armature wire, aluminium foil, knitted cotton embellishments, dimensions variable: oval key at far right is 80 x 33 x 5cm
Photograph: Simon Strong
Her Tools #7
collage on archival paper, Perspex box frame, 42 x 30cm
Photograph: Simon Strong
Her Tools #15
collage on archival paper, Perspex box frame, 32 x 40cm
Photograph: Simon Strong
Unearthed
epoxy resin, wire, cloth, wood. Dimensions variable. Table 75 x 62 x 600cm
Photograph: Lily Feng
Unearthed (detail)
epoxy resin, wire, cloth, wood. Dimensions variable, table 75 x 62 x 600cm.
Photograph: Lily Feng
The Skin of Hope installation view
installation view
photograph: John Brash
The Skin of Hope
digital type-C print, 48.3 x 65 cm, 50.8 x 68 cm (framed)
edition of 6
The Armour of Hope
digital type-C print, 61 x 43 cm, 63 x 45 cm (framed)
edition of 6
(right) Kate Just, The Armour of Hope, 2012
hand knitted metal and silk , 104 x 45 x 4 cm
photograph: John Brash
The Armour of Hope
digital type-C print, 61 x 45 cm, 63 x 47 cm (framed)
edition of 6
Venus Was Her Name (installation view)
installation view
Photograph: Clare Rae
Venus
cardboard, tape, twine
116 x 500 x 23 cm
Photograph: Clare Rae
Matrikas #2-7
collage on plywood, masonite
Photograph: Clare Rae
Kate Just (b. 1974 Hartford, CT USA, lives Melbourne)
Education
2011 - present Doctor of Philosophy (Fine Arts) candidate, Monash University
2008 Master of Arts (Fine Arts) by Research, RMIT University
2002 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts
1996 Bachelor of Science (Film Making), School of Communications, Boston University
Solo Exhibitions
2013 Venus Was Her Name, Daine Singer, Melbourne >>
2013 The Texture of Her Skin, Glen Eira Gallery, Melbourne
2012 The Skin of Hope, Daine Singer, Melbourne >>
2012 Kate Just: The Knitted Works 2004-2011, curated by Anthony Camm, Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Ararat >>
2011 Venus Was Her Name, The Factory, Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria >>
2011 Unearthed, Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2011 Project, Daine Singer, Zurich
2010 Inward Gathering, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2009 A New Day in a Strange Land, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Bombshell, Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
2008 Shed That Skin, Mop Projects, Sydney
2008 The Garden of Interior Delights, Don’t Come Store and Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Natural Woman, Raw Space, Brisbane
2008 Supernatural, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Upcoming
2007 I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, Bus Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Paradise, TCB art inc, Melbourne
2006 The Entertainer, Window Projection, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy
2006 Individual Project Room, Melbourne Art Fair
2005 Boundary (LOVE), Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra
2005 The Four Fathers, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy
2005 Family, West Space, Melbourne
2004 Love is a Rose, Conical Gallery, Fitzroy
2003 The Pickin’ Patch, Bus Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Pieces of You, West Space, Melbourne
2002 Needle Exchange, Sticky@Platform, Flinders Street Station, Melbourne
2002 Uniform, Penthouse and Pavement Gallery, Carlton
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012 Louise Bourgeois and Australian Artists, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne >>
2012 The City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
2012 Hello Dollies, curated by Shirley Dalborn, Penrith Regional Gallery
2012 Future Fibre, curated by Danica Larkin, Whitebox Gallery, Queensland
2012 Stories from the city, stories from the sea, queer urban tales, curated by Jessica Bridgfoot, The Substation, Melbourne
2011 Recent Acquisitions: Port Phillip City Collection, The Gallery, St Kilda Town Hall, Melbourne
2011 Interior Architecture, curated by Caroline Phillips, La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo
2010 Beleura National Works on Paper Prize, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
2010 Feminist Salon, West Wing, Melbourne Central, Melbourne
2010 Imaging the Apple, IC Institute, New York City, USA
2010 Dream Weavers, curated by Daine Singer and Kate Just (also exhibiting), CAST, Hobart, Tasmania
2010 Secret Files from the Working Men’s College, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne
2010 Nellie Castan at Sydney Art Month, 2 Danks Street, Sydney
2009 Ivy Tropes, curated by Melissa Loughnan, ACGA Gallery, Federation Square, Melbourne
2009 Nothing Out of the Ordinary, Nellie Castan Gallery, South Yarra
2009 Gertrude Studio Artists Exhibition, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Fitzroy
2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Woollahra City Chambers, Sydney
2009 Love Bites, curated by Sarah Jones, Plimsoll Gallery, Tasmania
2009 Auckland Art Fair, represented by Nellie Castan Gallery, New Zealand
2008 Gertrude Studio Artists Show, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Fitzroy
2008 Weaveworlds, Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney
2008 NEO POP, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Knitting, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Hawkesbury, NSW
2008 Life, Death, Thereafter, curated by Mark Feary, Silvershot, Melbourne
2008 The Ola Cohn Sculpture Prize, City Library Gallery, Melbourne
2008 The Blake Prize, National Art School, Sydney
2008 Pure Pleasure: The Nightclub Project, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne
2008 The Ergas Collection, Gallery 9, Sydney
2008 United Artists, The Palais, St Kilda
2007 You Make Me Feel: Tamara Marwood and Kate Just, Alluvial Gallery, Bendigo
2007 ABN Amro Emerging Art Award, Optus Centre Foyer, Melbourne
2007 Homeland, Sidney Meyer Education Centre, Heide Museum of Modern Art
2007 40 Degrees, curated by Alexie Glass, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Fitzroy
2007 Side Stitch, curated by Olivia Poloni, Blindside, Melbourne
2007 Manufactured, Raw Space, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Bird Girls, curated by Kate Daw and Vikki McInnes, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Siemens Fine Art Scholarship Exhibition, RMIT Gallery, Storey Hall, Melbourne
2006 RMIT Print Residency Exhibition, Project Space, RMIT University, Melbourne
2006 Only Some of the Time, First Draft Gallery, Sydney
2006 Beckon, co-curator & participating artist, PICA, Perth, WA
2006 Lexicon, curated by Martina Copley, City Library, Melbourne
2005 Canberra Contemporary Art Award, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT
2005 Selekta, co-curator, West Space Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Traverse, Lake Macquarie Regional Art Gallery and Rocketart, Newcastle, NSW
2004 She’s Crafty, First Draft Gallery, Sydney
2004 Supernatural, Kate Just and Kate Rohde, Horti Hall Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Home Loan, curated by Larissa Hjorth and Kate Shaw, Caroline Springs Warehouse
2003 Nightvision III, curated by Larissa Hjorth, Gallery 4A, Sydney
2002 Wallara Travelling Scholarship, VCA Gallery, Southbank, Melbourne
2002 Just Out of the Shire, Scott Donovan Gallery, Sydney
2002 New Hard Gossip, curated by Constanze Zikos, PB Gallery, Prahran
2002 Shoot, curated by Laresa Kosloff, Block, Sydney
2002 Neo Noir, curated by Mark Feary, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Fitzroy
Bibliography
Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Centre for Feminist Art: Feminist Art Base >>
2012 Robert Nelson, ‘The Corruption of the Innocents’,The Age, 27 June, 2012. >>
2012 Dan Rule, ‘In the galleries’, The Age, 23 June 2012. >>
2012 Dylan Rainforth, ‘Just in Time’, The Age, 23May 2012.
2012 Dan Rule, ‘The Skin of Hope’, Broadsheet, June 2012. >>
2012 Sherryn Vardy, ‘Just So: Artnotes’, Art Monthly, June 2012.
2012 Anthony Camm, Kate Just: The Knitted Works 2004-2011, exh. cat., Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Ararat.
2012 ‘Knitted Works at Ararat Art Gallery’, The Weekly Advertiser, 24 May 2012.
2012 Margaret Burin, ‘Feminism just a needle and thread away’, ABC Ballarat and ABC Online, 22 May 2012. >>
2012 Melissa Miles, ‘The Skin of Hope,’ catalogue essay, Daine Singer, Melbourne, 2012.
2011 Daniela Tomasovsky, ‘Venus Reloaded’, Morgen: 5/11, Austria, October 2011.
2011 Craig Burgess, ‘One of These Forms’, catalogue essay for Unearthed, Craft Victoria, 2011.
2011 Martha McDonald, ‘In Small Things Remembered,’ catalogue essay for Unearthed, Craft Victoria, 2011.
2011 Liza Power, “Tools of our Trade Take on New Guises,” The Age, April 16, 2011 >>
2010 Olivia Poloni, Inward Gathering, exh. cat., Nellie Castan Gallery, October 2010.
2010 Robert Nelson, ‘If Nightmares Come True’, The Age, 19 November 2010.
2010 ‘Kate Just’, Art Collector, October 2010.
2009 Rose Vickers, ‘Kate Just: New Work’, Art World Magazine, Issue 9, June/July 2009.
2009 Alice Blackwood, ‘Stitching Myths and Memories: The work of Kate Just’, Textile Art Forum 2009 Magazine, Vo. 28, Issue 2, No 94, August 2009.
2009 Anna Saunders, ‘Simply Red’, Marie Claire, June 2009.
2009 Tai Snaith, ‘Life and Times’, Artlink, Vol 29, No. 1, March 2009.
2008 Ashley Crawford, ‘Gertrude Studio Artists Exhibition’, The Age, Saturday 30 November 2008.
2008 Ross Moore, ‘Goddess of the Kitsch’, The Age, Friday 24 October 2008.
2008 Dylan Rainforth, ‘Kate Just’, The Age, M Magazine, Sunday 12 October 2008.
2008 Kirsten Rann, Garden of Interior Delights, exh. cat., Don’t Come Gallery, October 2008.
2008 Ashley Crawford, ‘Blake Makes Spirited Choice’, The Age, Wednesday 27 August 2008.
2007 Back Page Featured Artist, National Association for the Visual Arts Magazine, July 2007.
2007 Stephen Gallagher, ‘At the Crossroads of Daphne’, in You Make Me Feel, exh. cat., July 2007.
2007 Andrew Stephens, ‘Open Wide, come inside’, The Age, M Magazine, 6 May 2007, p.41.
2007 Olivia Poloni, ‘The Dolls House – A Modern Wunderkammer’, in The Four Seasons, exh. cat., The Dolls House gallery, April 2007.
2007 Vikki McInnes, ‘Kate Just’, in Bird Girls, exh. cat., VCA Gallery, April 2007.
2007 Kate Daw, ‘Bird Girls, Fly High, Fly Low’, in Bird Girls, exh. cat., VCA Gallery, April 2007.
2007 Olivia Poloni, ‘Side Stitch’, exh. cat., VCA Gallery, March 2007.
2007 Megan Backhouse, ‘40 Degrees’, The Age, Saturday 17 February 2007.
2006 Ric Spencer, ‘Flight of the fantasy Beckons’, The West Australian, 9 September 2006.
2006 ABC TV Interview/Presentation, Sunday Arts Program, Sunday 20 August 2006.
2006 Megan Backhouse, ‘Mixed Media’, The Age, Wednesday 2 August 2006.
2006 Robert Nelson, ‘Unexpected Encounters’, The Age, 2 August 2006.
2006 Dominique Angeloro & Jesse Garron, ‘BECKON’, in Beckon, exh. cat., Perth Institute of 2006 Contemporary Art, August 2006.
2006 Robert Nelson, ‘Fabrications to Make You Knit Your Brow in Perplexity’, The Age, 14 June 2006.
2006 Megan Backhouse, ‘Art Galleries’, The Age, 17 June 2006.
2006 Kylie Gusset, ‘The Medium is not the Message’, Yarn Magazine, March 2006, p.6.
2005 Penny Webb, ‘Family’, Sightlines, The Age, 29 June 2005.
2005 Bridget Cameron, ‘The Knitting Train’, commissioned by Artlink for www.craftculture.org, April 2005.
2004 Dominique Angeloro & Jesse Garron, ‘Crossroads: The Politics of Every Which Way’, in Traverse, exh. cat., 2004.
2004 Penny Webb, ‘Not In Their Nature to Be Loud’, The Age, 29 May 2004.
2003 Meghan Backhouse, ‘Conversion to Suburban’, The Age, 10 September 2003.
2003 Larissa Hjorth and Kate Shaw, ‘Home Loan’, in Home Loan, exh. cat., Caroline Springs, 2003.
2002 Peter Hill, ‘Leaving the Shire’, Critic’s Picks, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 2002.
2002 Ashley Crawford, ‘From the Dark Screams Art’, The Age, 29 May 2002.
2002 Larissa Hjorth, ‘Neo Noir’, Broadsheet, summer 2002.
2002 Jazmina Cininas, ‘Uniform’, Artlink, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 2002.
Awards, Grants and Residencies
2012 Winner, British Council Realise Your Dream Award >>
2012 Finalist, City of Hobart Art Prize, Hobart
2012 Artist in Residence, Australian Tapestry Workshop
2012 Australia Council New Work grant
2012 Barcelona Studio Residency, Australia Council for the Arts
2012 Finalist, Substation Contemporary Art Prize
2011 International Artist in Residence, KREMS, Austria >>
2011 City of Melbourne Arts Project Grant
2011 Monash Postgraduate Research Publications Award
2011 Janet Holmes a Court Artist’s Grant
2011 Melbourne University Creative and Conference Research Fund (for staff)
2010 Monash Graduate Scholarship (2010 – 2012)
2010 Finalist, Beleura National Works on Paper Prize, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
2010 St Kilda Bowling Club Studio residency
2010 Feminist Salon Residency at West Wing, Melbourne Central
2009 Finalist, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Woollahra Council Chambers, NSW
2008 Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Residency (2008 -2010)
2008 Australian Postgraduate Award, Master of Arts, RMIT University, (2006 – 2008)
2008 Janet Holmes A Court Artists Grant
2008 Finalist, OIa Cohn Sculpture Prize
2008 Finalist, The Blake Prize
2007 City of Melbourne Arts Project Grant Recipient
2007 NAVA Visual and Craft Artist’s Grant
2007 Finalist, ABN Amro Emerging Art Award
2007 Finalist, Art & Australia/ANZ Private Bank Emerging Artists Award
2007 Artist in Residence, Heide Museum of Modern Art
2007 Emerging Writers Program, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
2007 Artist in Residence, RMIT Summer Print Program, RMIT University, Melbourne
2006 Siemens Travelling Scholarship
2006 Melbourne Art Fair, Project Room New Work Grant
2005 Arts Development Grant (Creation), Arts Victoria
2005 Finalist, Canberra Contemporary Art Award, Australian Capital Territory
2004 NAVA Visual and Craft Artist’s Grant
2004 City of Melbourne Arts Project Grant Recipient
2004 Project grant for the development of New Work, NSW Ministry for Arts
2004 Artist in residence, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery & NSW Ministry for Arts
2003 City of Melbourne Arts Project Grant Recipient
2003 Winner, Toorak Village Sculpture Festival Emerging Artist Award
2002 Finalist, Wallara Travelling Scholarship
2002 Winner, National Gallery Women’s Association Encouragement Award
Collections
Ergas Collection, Sydney
Artbank
City of Port Phillip, Melbourne
Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Proclaim Management, Victoria
Private collections Australia, New Zealand, Austria, USA
Professional Experience
2005-present Lecturer, Painting Department, School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts and Music, Melbourne
2005 – 2006 Program Coordinator, West Space, Melbourne
2004 Panel Member, City of Melbourne Arts Grants, Young Artists Grant Assessment
Published writing by the artist
2011 The Weeping Dress, exhibition speech and essay, solo exhibition by Martha McDonald, Craft Victoria, March 2011.
2011 The Gift and The Curse, exh. cat., solo exhibition by Drew Pettifer, RMIT School of Art Gallery, February 2011.
2010 ‘The Whole Truth’, Holding Pattern, exh. cat., solo exhibition by Caroline Phillips, George Paton Gallery, March 2010.
2009 Kaleidoscope, exh. cat., solo exhibition by Song Ling, Niagara Gallery, February 2010.
2009 The Body Talks: Video Work of Kotoe Ishii, exh. cat., Library Art Space, December 2009.
2008 ‘Parasite Specific’, Objects in Space, exh. cat., (venues across Melbourne), Next Wave Festival, May 2008.
2008 A Little Ladylike Tinkling and Smearing, exh. cat., exhibition by Tamara Marwood, Craft Victoria, 2008.
2007 ‘Free Range’, Range of Motion, exh. cat., exhibition by Penny Cain, Emma White, Maddy Donovan, West Space, June 2007.
2007 ‘Rich Text’, Rich Text, exh. cat., RMIT Storey Hall, May 2007.
2006 ‘Louise Weaver, Taking a Chance on Love, Selected Works 1990 – 2006’, review, Artlink, December 2006.
2006 ‘Before Monday’, catalogue essay, exhibition by Katherine Huang, Gertrude Studio 12, November 2006.
2006 Janenne Eaton, ‘Angle of Head’, review, Eyeline, July 2006.
2006 Elizabeth Gower, ‘Sites & Conversations at VCA Gallery’, review, Eyeline, Issue 59, 2006.
2005 Susan Wirth, ‘West Space’, review, UN Magazine, Issue 4, 2005.
