Kay Slater is a multidisciplinary artist.
Kay's artistic practice explores value as it relates to process and expectations. Multidisciplinary means that they work in a variety of ways to make and produce work; such as illustration, paper and cardboard sculpture, photography, videography, writing, and discussion. An example is their annual, self-directed residency every October. In 2023, they focused their daily process and research on automation, AI, and creativity. In prior years, they produced an object daily using an automatic practice and posted the product of these explorations on instagram Opens in new window. They enjoy creating and maintaining spaces where people can explore, learn, experience, fail, feel, and create!
Kay is queer, white, and hard of hearing. They use They/Their/Theirs pronouns exclusively online (cyberspace), and will begrudgingly accept the use of fluid pronouns, in meatspace. Meatspace is another way to describe physical or non-digital environments. They are both passionate and reclusive. They identify as mad, both angry at ableism and as a survivor of mental illness. They cannot hear you in busy spaces and would prefer to communicate in writing.
Kay subscribes to the philosophy of the New Sincerity, which is a philosophy or trend that tries to expand upon and break away from concepts of postmodernist irony. It also strives to “be more awesome”.
Artist Statement
I like to explore concepts of worth and self-worth through making. I am driven to question traditional display and exhibition standards - especially through an accessibility and ability-focused lens. I obsessively archive my process and am constantly working to embrace mistakes. I build workshops that help participants value (and hopefully delight in) the act of making which ultimately reduces the pressure people feel to create a finished, perfect product.
An arts focused CV can be found here.
Find Kay:
- Making with their Collective: The Papercut Arcade Opens in new window.
- Creating, installing, and knowledge sharing at grunt gallery Opens in new window .
- Hosting Queer ASL Opens in new window Art & Social Events: Kay volunteers as the Social and Cultural Events person, and hosts classes for QASL teachers and students at local galleries.
- On Instagram: @ k d o t c a Opens in new window
- Sharing the briefest of insights on their blog Opens in new window, kdot.ca/blog, while striving to make it AAA WCAG conformant Opens in new window and accessible to anyone who cares to wander through.
- In meatspace* consuming land, water, and air: As an uninvited and often unwelcome white settler guest on the unceded, ancestoral territories of the Coast Salish people, specifically the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Kay is learning, unlearning, making mistakes, searching for joy, and participating in, standing with, and witnessing landback initiatives for Indigenous Soverignity.
- On LinkedIn: For a formal CV that is updated with some infrequency, spanning Kay's career in media and advertising as well as as an artist and creative, visit: linked in . com Opens in new window
Visual Description of Kay:
Kay is a white, middle aged person with greying midback-length hair, the colour and texture of wet west coast sand. They have shaved sides and often wear their hair up and away from their face. They have brown eyes, a triple-pierced nose and double-pierced lip on opposing sides, and large rosy cheeks. They have a large smile that crinkles the corner of their eyes and exposes their tea-stained, yellow teeth. They are an average to large build, and stand 5'6 or 168 cm. Their appearance and voice are read as femme, and their clothing tends to neutral and casual.
Kay's name in ASL
Kay fingerspells their name in ASL, K-A-Y. The K handshape is the palm facing out, with index and middle fingers sticking up like the letter 'V', thumb is tucked at the base of the two extended fingers. The rest of the hand is curled in, touching the palm. The A handshape is a closed fist, thumb resting up against to the side of the hand and pointing up, with the curled fingers of the hand facing towards the other person. The Y handshape is a loosely closed hand with thumb and pinky finger extended out and pointed away from each other. The fingerspelling in smooth, and the 3 letters flow from left to right in a single flowing motion.
Kay will occassionally use the name sign for pickles (so used for their yellow teeth and sour breath)! This is the letter K in ASL (palm facing out, with index and middle fingers sticking up like the letter 'V', thumb is tucked at the base of the two extended fingers. The rest of the hand is curled in, touching the palm.) with the middle finger touching just to the side of their mouth at their right mouth dimple, and twisted down towards their chin. However, they prefer spelling their short name.
Design Notes:
While it may seem odd for a visual artist to have such a minimalist design and lack of content for a website, this page is designed to acknowledge that:
- Accessibility is important. I want all folks to be able to contact me easily. k a y @ k d o t . c a.
- Social media is regularly updated and I use it. Instead of repeating content published elsewhere, I invite you to please visit my social profiles online:
@ k d o t c a (no spaces when typed out). - Being a successful and self-employed artist means time is limited. I acknowledge that updating and maintaining an artist site that is secure and safe for my visitors takes more time than I have to give. Instead, I choose to use that time making, exploring new ways of communicating, installing work, and updating my skills as a multi-media artist, preparator, workshop facilitator, accessibility consultant, and creative problem solver.
Designing a website that prioritizes access doesn't have to be ugly. Nor does an aesthetically pleasing website need to be inaccessible. However, Brutalist web design appeals to me as I work to identify and reject classist and narcissist design trends and standards that perpetuate oppression. Brutalism in web design stives to create simple, honest, and functional websites. I believe the best design prioritizes information first - regardless of how it is being consumed.