About the artist…

Kathy Pickles was born and brought up in London. After a Foundation Course at Canterbury College of Art and a short time studying textile design at Winchester School of Art, she went to Sussex University where she obtained a BA Hons. in the History of Art.

Kathy moved to Orkney in January 1981 and soon afterwards started to develop her interest in painting flowers. Over the next few years she exhibited her work at the Pier Open Weeks and Christmas Shows and undertook a number of private commissions. In 1988 she had her first solo exhibition at the newly opened Ballroom Gallery (which is now the home of the Orkney Gallery) and since then has had a number of successful shows in Orkney including a two-person show (with Dave Harris) at the Pier Arts Centre in 2001, entitled 'Natural Studies'.

In 1991 Kathy was encouraged to exhibit her work at one of the Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Shows in Westminster and was delighted to receive a Gold Medal. Since then she has exhibited a further four times, receiving a Gold Medal on each occasion. On the strength of this she was invited to take part in a three-person show at the Kew Gardens Gallery, which took place in 1995-6.

In 1996 Kathy undertook the design of the 1997 Chelsea Flower Show Plate which celebrated the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip Later that year she was invited by Orkney Islands Council to meet the Prince of Wales and show him her original painting while he was in St Margaret's Hope viewing the work of a number of local artists and craftsmen.

Since 1994 Kathy has been designing floral mugs for Dunoon Ceramics and to date has produced over one hundred designs, some of which are included in the Gallery. She was very pleased, a couple of years ago, to be able to design of set of three Scottish Wild Flower mugs which included some Orkney favourites such as Primula scotica, Northern Marsh Orchid, Flag iris and Oyster Plant.

Examples of Kathy's work have been acquired by The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Edinburgh, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.