Kate McLeod

Kate McLeod creates rich, gestural abstract paintings layered in oil, acrylic, resin, pigment, and metal leaf, each work a performance capturing ephemeral motion. Driven by a deep fascination with colour theory and its emotional resonance, she explores how colour can communicate, evoke ad connect. Her practice invites viewers to pause with feeling: to sense the moment, the energy, the shared human thread.

Kate’s creative journey has taken many forms. After graduating from Canterbury University in 2005 (B.A. in Art History and Sociology), she explored roles in TV set design, teaching, advertising, tech, and restoration — each one broadening her creative fluency.

Living across four continents — including seasons in Ankara, Auckland, London, San Francisco, and Sydney — Kate has immersed herself in a wide range of cultures and perspectives. This diversity of experience is central to her work: shaping a practice that values nuance, connection, and the universal language of colour and creativity.

In 2015, she retuned to  Ōtautahi Christchurch, establishing a purpose-built studio in Ilam to support her full-tie painting practice. Today, she lives her dream; building connection through art, and weaving moments of colour, emotion, and place into something both personal and shared.