Katy Dove
Artist and musician Born: December 1, 1970 Died: January 27, 2015
KATY Dove, who has died aged 44, was an artist and musician best known for her vibrant and meditative artwork, whether through her brightly coloured animations, or with Muscles of Joy, the band she formed in 2007 with several artist friends in Glasgow.
She was born in 1970 in Oxford and grew up in the small village of Jemimaville in the Black Isle. One of five sisters, being part of this community fostered her enjoyment of the outdoors, walking, gardening and cooking.
After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a psychology degree, she supported herself by making and selling jewellery before gaining a scholarship to study at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 1996. There, she began an enduring friendship with the artist Charlotte Prodger, with whom she took the first of three extended trips to India which nourished an interest in yoga and meditation.
At art school, she moved from jewellery to sculpture, while her tutor Cathy Wilkes encouraged discussions with other artists who suggested bringing movement to her vibrant automatic drawings. The result, the 90-second Fantasy Freedom (1999) was at the core of her immersive sculptural degree show installation. Combining the sound of the rhythm of Dove’s breath and her bicycle with vivid kaleidoscopic watercolours, it marked Dove’s emergent interest in art’s visceral potential, leading her to be part of the first cohort of artists to represent Scotland at the Venice Biennale in Zenomap in 2003. Her animations paralleled early experimenters in the field of animation such as Norman McLaren, whose archive at the University of Stirling Dove researched for a project at The Changing Room gallery.
Words from McLaren’s diaries and letters were also assimilated into the lyrics of songs for Muscles of Joy, whose all-female line-up built their own instruments, fusing primitive chorales with a DIY sensibility. The band’s debut LP was long-listed for the inaugural Scottish Album of the Year award in 2012, its members remaining a crucial part of Glasgow’s fertile art and music scenes.
Muscles of Joy played their first gig in 2008 in Platform, Easterhouse, to coincide with an exhibition of new work that was the culmination of Dove’s two-year PARTNERS residency. This consolidated years of experience delivering art workshops and established a collaboration with Edinburgh-based choreographer, Sheila Macdougall.
Dove’s continuing interest in choreography is evident in the animation, Meaning in Action (2013), which explores methods of bodily movement. She was grounded by a stubborn but gentle independence, conveying a sensibility that continually inspired those around her
Her cooperative spirit was demonstrated while a part-time resident of Clay- lands Farm, Balfron, alongside the artists Belinda Gilbert Scott and Sarah Kenchington. With the assistance of many friends Dove’s caravan acquired electricity and running water, and the site surrounding it gained a compost toilet, an immensely steep slide, a clay oven, a vegetable garden and (intermittently) a sauna, with the latter becoming the perfect place to relax after a wild swim in Endrick water.
This home, captured in On Another Note (2012) by Dove’s sister, the filmmaker Emma Dove, hosted impromptu performance nights, parties and gatherings, together with residencies inspiring works by Colin Begg, Christopher Deans, Luke Fowler, Hayley Tompkins and Dove’s Muscles of Joy band-mates, Anne-Marie Copestake, Sophie Macpherson and Leigh Ferguson. After leaving the caravan, Dove continued to cultivate a thriving allotment at Kelvinside.
Her most recent solo exhibition in Duff House, Banff (2014), was part of Generation, the nationwide year-long showcase of Scottish contemporary art over the last 25 years. Her ongoing interest in holistic therapies led her to investigate medicinal plants within Duff House’s grounds in a way that was aligned with her desire to study aromatherapy massage. She was meticulous in the treatment of her illness, highlighting contradictions such as the over-abundance of sugary foods in hospitals despite strong links between glucose and cancer growth.
Dove’s care for others was evident in her role as a devoted and loving aunt and friend. In turn, the unwavering support of her mother Maggie, sisters Anna, Sarah, Lucy and Emma, together with her partner Tom Worthington, enabled her to be present and attentive until her final moments.