Kate Breakey

Courtesy of Catherine Edelman.

Kate Breakey lives in deep daily contact with the wildlife and desert environment that surrounds her, which inspires her wider artistic practice. For Breakey, the photograph itself is a starting point—a surface onto which she layers and incorporates stitching, hand coloring, and gilding. Breakey developed her unique process of printing on glass, and then applying gold leaf to the reverse, as a technique to create truly stunning and one-of-a-kind images. Since 1980, this artist’s work has appeared in more than 110 solo exhibitions and more than 60 group shows.

A native of South Australia, Breakey moved to Austin, Texas, in 1988. She completed an MFA at the University of Texas in 1991, where she later taught photography in the Department of Art and Art History until 1997. Breakey’s work has been acquired by institutions including the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona; Australian National Gallery; San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts; and various private collections. She has resided in Tucson for the past twenty years.