Kate Lewis

The News Pressed

Paper artist

©Dan Kennedy

©Joshua Mowll

©Dan Kennedy

Turning breaking news into paper flowers

Kate crafts botanical collages from newspaper cuttings
Making her paper art allows her to process news that can be upsetting
Her love for paper began when she made paper flip-flops for her sister at the age of seven

Based in London, Kate Lewis creates artistic paper objects that memorialise the times we are living in. She initially established a career as a textile designer for luxury names, after completing her master’s degree at the Royal College of Arts in constructed textiles. “I had wonderful tutors at the Royal College where I learnt how to materialise my ideas,” Kate says. She has a wide skillset which includes embroidery, drawing, sewing and lots of patience. In 2018, Kate established The News Pressed project as a creative way of processing news that upsets her. In her practice, she transforms articles and words into collages that take on the shape of flowers and plants. “I love finding ways to express ideas, whether it is through the subtle language of materials, the process of making or even the painful parts I go through in finishing a piece,” she says.

Interview

©Sloane Warren

©Joshua Mowll

Why did you choose paper art?: Paper art felt right. The moment I started using my hands to create, I felt pleasure and peace throughout my body – I was doing what was natural to me. I do not experience the same joy from working digitally. It has always been in the physical nature of making, sewing, drawing, painting, cutting and collaging that I feel happiest.
When and why did you start The News Pressed?: I started this project as a therapeutic activity, when I could not take any more news in 2018. The slow nature of the practice gives me time to process news stories. I made the single-story botanical series on my days off and at weekends. After a year I had an interesting body of work, which then developed into large wreaths of the seasons.
What does your creative process look like?: With the large wreaths, I collect all the season’s news articles from a wide range of British newspapers. I focus on events that you would give flowers for, such as births, marriages, love and loss, in addition to record-breaking, historical and royal events. I draw a wreath of in-season British flowers, then collage the stories onto the drawing. Each flower represents a different story.
What is one thing people do not know about your work?: All colours in my pieces come from the newspapers, I do not add any. There is a lot about these wreaths that I cannot fully control besides the colours, such as what flowers are in it, the stories and the font, which is something I like. I set a project brief for myself that I allow to develop with time. This is what keeps my pieces alive.

Kate Lewis is an expert artisan: she began her career in 1999 and she started teaching in 2001