Katie Gold’s visually striking ceramic shoes, boots and handbags are akin to the opulent silk brocade dancing slippers of the nineteenth century. Each individually crafted shoe assumes a distinct identity.

Throughout history shoes have come to reflect the changing passions, perspectives and ideals of our culture. Like many woman, Katie Gold has an infatuation for shoes. This new body of work allows her to expand on this passion within her ceramic art practice.

Gold constructs her forms by layering small strips of clay, complementing them with rich coloured glazes, ribbons, bows and delicate patternation. Whether it is a dancing lady buckled shoe, a calendula flowered boot, a Japanese slipper or a violet handbag each work articulates a fanciful journey into the unknown.

“Shoes not only reflect social history, they are a personal record of our lives – touchstones that evoke a time, a place, an emotion. As mementos of occasions on which they were worn, shoes, preserve the past, triggering memories. The indefinable allure of a new shoe unlocks rich private fantasies. We fall for a fabulous shoe at first glance, seduced by the tilt of the heel or sensuous line of the arch. The whimsy of a flirtatious bow, the nearly edible appeal of a decorative frosting of beads or swirls of embroidery all add up to the fatal attraction.” (1)

1. Katie Gold, Artist statement, 2005.