Aukaha

Under the same stars
Nā Deborah McPherson

Blanket of Chaos. PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

Kate Stevens West grew up with a passion for art and
creativity. Her parents were art collectors and one of their
favourite family activities was visiting galleries around
their hometown of Pōneke.

But it wasn’t until the youngest of Kate’s four tamariki
approached school age that she felt ready to turn her art
into a career.

“I had this insight that I needed to try and have the
career of being a painter that I secretly dreamed of, so
I just started,” she says.
And it was the encouragement of her friend, Cassie
Ringland-Stewart (Cass), that finally gave Kate confidence
to jump.

She sent Cass, who is a poet, photos of her work and
was delighted to receive a poem back from her responding
to her piece, Blanket of Chaos. That was the kākano for a
collaboration that resulted in a book, The Velvet Rope –
Poems & Paintings, and an exhibition at Bellamys Gallery
in Macandrew Bay on the Otago Peninsula.

“To my great surprise and delight all of those artworks
got snapped up and I had this moment of ‘Oh my gosh
maybe I can (do this)’.”

At the invitation of Paemanu, Kate exhibited seven
large paintings at Dunedin Public Art Gallery as part of the
exhibition, Paemanu: Tauraka Toi – A Landing Place.

“It felt absolutely like a dream come true for me to
have made this work and be able to stand alongside these
artists who I really admire,” she says.

“I went from having a very solitary practice to being
invited into Paemanu at this critical moment and having
these amazing, generous tuākana who were able to
support the growth of my practice and allow a platform for
that. I just don’t think this would have happened for me
without them.”

Kate Stevens West in her studio PHOTOGRAPH: DIANNA THOMSON

Taurewarewa 2022 (detail). Collection of the Dunedin Public
Art Gallery, purchased 2022 with funds from the Dunedin
City Council.

Now based in Ōtepoti, Kate is balancing parenthood
with her art, design work for mana whenua consultancy
Aukaha, and taking on a special role as advocate for
pakake, New Zealand sea lions.

Whānau and whakapapa are often depicted in Kate’s
mahi with her 1848 tipuna Irihapeti Stevens being the
subject of a series of her works.

“I could feel this work was important for me and was
building a bridge with her that I felt needed to be built.
Reacquainting myself with her and her life felt heavy but
also good.”

Taurewarewa is a work featuring Irihapeti being held
by her mother Hinewhakana, Irihapeti holding her baby
John, alongside Kate holding one of her own babies. It was
purchased by Dunedin Public Art Gallery and is on display
until the end of October as part of the exhibition Huikaau –
where currents meet.

“Through painting I am connecting with my tūpuna,
and I am imagining their lives. I realised I’m doing the
same job as they did, looking after my babies, and we have
all rocked our babies under the same stars.