I’m not really giving BlueSky the attention it needs so stepping back for a while. If you like my work you can sign up for my monthly(ish) creative updates here: kateshields.substack.com 💗

Starting tomorrow i'll be artist in residence at a local community sauna for the whole of June- what a perfect thing for a sauna-loving artist like me! I wrote about this and some related stuff here: kateshields.substack.com/p/a-world-in...

If you’re a freelancer/creative/run a non-profit/small business and find it hard to manage your socials, I’ve only gone and started a monthly email offering tips, hacks & resources to try and help make things a bit easier (it’s my day job!) Sign up here: eepurl.com/jfADZk

A very cute site visit ahead of Camp Kindred, a non-profit, brand-free queer gathering I’m involved in coming up this July, somewhere in East Sussex. It can’t happen without you, so book a camping ticket now if you want to be part of the inaugural event! campkindred.uk

It is very very important that money keeps coming into @goodlawproject.bsky.social fundraisers in the light of this. We have no billionaire funders, so we must do it ourselves.

🚨 With Awaab’s Law coming into effect and the Renters' Rights Bill due to become law later this year, this is a crucial time to make sure renters’ voices are heard.  That’s why we’ve just launched our yearly Renters Survey!

Fun with stone and glass textures in Blender

A little reminder that I send out a monthly substack feat. upcoming projects, ideas & research plus news from my biome (friends + connections!) If youre into my work but, like me, trying to limit social media usage, sign up here: kateshields.substack.com

A cool workshop yesterday: we played TTRPG worldbuilding game A Quiet Year, then some speculative writing about the worlds we’d created at the Art Research Garden organised by Hildegard’s Garden Society (hildegardsgardeningcompanions.cargo.site)

Saw this edited chalk board at a gallery and now all I can think about is what it’s like to be hugged by eels.

Eek this is a bit good. The other side of a later-in-life diagnosis is a fucking nightmare. My unmasking technique looks a lot like not-leaving-the-house these days.

Blindboy is always good but this is VERY good

Slowly getting over my 2nd covid infection, which means I finally put the finishing touches to my May substack about my Fabrica residency and sent it out into the world. Do have a read! This was such a joyful project: kateshields.substack.com/p/future-sto...

Spent most of my 2nd time with COVID playing #DiscoElysium I’m just really sad I couldn’t get Lieutenant Kim to trust me.

Fab time at PlayOffice in Portsmouth this weekend learning projection mapping in TouchDesigner alongside a fun & diverse group of creatives. PlayOffice is an accessible creative tech studio. Love to see places like this!: www.play-office.com

In Portsmouth for a workshop, and I stumbled across the ‘Pique stone’, which apparently saved a ship from sinking in 1835 by plugging a hole following damage when it ran ashore? @stoneclub.bsky.social

‘Drawing with stones’- an experimental life drawing session ran as a collaboration with the brilliant Jane Fordham as part of my Making Space residency at fabrica gallery last week. Stones! Drawing!

Absolutely adore the elegance of this. Love having a job where I stumble over this kind of stuff in the (digital) archives!

….caught the stone circle in this gorgeous morning light at Fabrica on the final day of my residency here. The stones are on their way back to their owners, the sand swept away with a big broom. This residency has been such a joy!

The final day of my Making Space residency culminated with a closing ritual, featuring a spoken word piece created from the words, memories and feelings gathered in stone sharing workshops. ✨

Day 3 of my residency FUTURE STONES at Fabrica. Ran 2 stone & story sharing group workshops today, where we talked, drew and listened, before building a collaborative stone circle within the space. Such a lovely day of community warmth & creativity (& a love of stones!)✨ @stoneclub.bsky.social

A brilliant day drawings with stones with Jane Fordham and her experimental life drawing group at Fabrica gallery. I’ve modelled for Jane’s sessions myself for over 10 years now, and so as part of my residency I invited Jane to collaborate on this session. Such a great day drawing & talking STONES

Peaceful first day of my Making Space residency at Fabrica: ‘Future Stones’. Making circles, scanning stones and setting up for workshops. (And a tarot reading to start ofc)

What will happen to us un-women? My thoughts on today’s UK Supreme Court decision excluding trans women from the legal category of women. Over at Autostraddle: www.autostraddle.com/uk-supreme-c...

It’s been a shitty few days. Choosing to remember we performed a full-length theatre show about Kurt Cobain being trans with a full live trans+nb band on the day the UK reached peak trans-panic. 🎶“What else can I say? Everyone is gay!”#TransRightsAreHumanRights

Literally my dream dj gig

In our final rehearsals for this amazing show I’m part of happening on Weds eve at ACCA in #Brighton So excited/nervous to get back onstage on guitar, but couldn’t imagine a better way to do it! www.attenboroughcentre.com/events/5362/...

🏠 The government is planning to bring in higher standards for energy efficiency, meaning all private rental homes must have an EPC rating of C or above by 2030 (🧵)

This weekend my body firmly and viscerally rejected the new meds I’ve been put on, resulting in a Sunday a&e visit (and yet more drugs). So…here’s a pic of my weird little film installation ‘a stone circle for the future’ on show at ‘FOLKLORE’ for one more weekend in #Newhaven. Worth a visit!

1/1 This was a particularly interesting one for me, as someone living with Ulcerative Colitis and therefore a malfunctioning large intestine. My project ‘GUTS (The Enchanted Forest)’ reimagined the gut as a forest, reliant on complex lifeforms to thrive. It was inspired by an excellent book (cont)

Enjoying @atomfall.com which is extremely relevant to my interests (Folklore! Nuclear stuff! Druids!) I still find first-person gaming *so* hard. Glad for the accessibility options to help with motion sickness but still find myself getting confused and dying a lot during combat #atomfall

Happy world autism day or whatever- in entirely related news today I bought some moss.

[World-building primer]

So chuffed to show ‘a stone circle for the future’ as part of this diverse and exciting show in Newhaven: FOLKLORE curated by Toadlickers Collective. Open until 12 April! www.toadlickers.co.uk/folklore-new...

I’m building a collaborative stone circle inside Fabrica in #Brighton next month as part of a week-long Making Space residency exploring community and connection. I need your stones + stories! Here’s all the details if you want to get involved: kateshields.substack.com/p/future-sto...

If anyone wants to buy me a new Xbox now would be a good time. 😭

Happy Spring equinox. Here’s some pics from a beach fire last night and my cherry tree blossoming 🌸

Hiding in long grass taking down N*zis is my new favourite hobby. Extremely cathartic, 100% would recommend. #SniperElite

Much excite to be part of this upcoming exhibition: FOLKLORE exploring “why folklore is having a revival and how contemporary artists are using its legends, techniques and aesthetics to describe their experiences” Let’s goooo! www.toadlickers.co.uk/folklore-new... #folklore

This week’s episode of @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social’s podcast was a very accessible introduction to understanding how capitalism is not only killing people and planet, but also alienating the working class. But what’s next?

So yeah, the #Covid anniversary: to say my life has changed dramatically is an understatement. As an immune-compromised person I experienced the absolute best and the absolute worst in people, almost no in between. I feel like this image from Jarman’s Last of England sums it up for me. #covid

Some Sunday art snippets. Dreamy audio visuals in ‘parting clouds’ by Esther McElwee at Lighthouse, and Foster Grant’s ‘Home to my teenage bedroom’ at Phoenix Gallery (loved the spinny pole-paintings!) Also, a solo spring crocus, and an excellent bday card from little Ludo. #brighton

when we look through the hag stone we see a glimpse of how our lives could be. the water takes the path of least resistance through the rocks.

Back from a glorious 2 days in @kewgardens.bsky.social I go every year on my birthday, with a sketchbook and a specially curated playlist on my headphones and re-regulate my nervous system. It’s a theme park for autistic nature lovers like me ✨

Found a nice big stone in @kewgardens.bsky.social! Outside the Minka House

A trip to see the #GurdyStone just outside Lewes: a contemporary stone installed in 2023 as part of a ritual by Local Pyscho to ‘encode’ their Hurdy Gurdy Song into the stone & mark the return of the Green Comet ☄️ #WeirdSussex @stoneclub.bsky.social (Followed by an outdoor sauna session in the sun!)

Signed up for beta release of Flashes, BlueSky’s answer to Instagram…not too shabby so far! A glimmer of hope in the grand plan of getting Meta out of my life, perhaps. Let’s see.

Some projection mapping tests on a model stone circle, trying out some ideas for larger scale installations… This was done using Dynamapper- still a really good (cheap!) app for testing mapped footage, through just an iPhone or iPad.

Many friends facing either long-distance moves or long social housing lists. My own rent is increased *yearly* (I’ve been denied a longer contract) at a rate that far exceeds earnings. What then? Housing is out of control. Please join a housing union, protest, help us- even if you don’t rent.