Kayt Hughes
I’m a North West-based artist, arts producer, curator and educator. My work focuses on the sensory – informed by my synaesthesia – creating a unique understanding of sound, shape, texture, colour, and mass.
I’m a North West-based artist, arts producer, curator and educator. My work focuses on the sensory – informed by my synaesthesia – creating a unique understanding of sound, shape, texture, colour, and mass.
Artist Statement
My practice also navigates the politics of understanding: how communication happens outside of language and the importance of finding alternative routes to create, and share, knowledge. This can take the form of more traditionally recognisable art objects, such as sculpture, drawings, and exhibitions; or exist more fluidly as workshops, performances, and frameworks for experimentation and support.
Much of my work strives to demystify the processes of art-making, and the difficulty of navigating both art spaces and the sector as a whole. In the gallery, this might include collaborative, participatory or interactive artworks; or artworks that describe my processes of art-making and research. In my production practice, I create similar frameworks for artistic engagement and development, aiming to remove some of the barriers to making art, or working within the sector.
Currently, I am working with ceramics and sound production, to capture my synaesthetic experiences as physical gestures and fixed forms. I am also researching the connections between non-verbal communications and object-making: particularly around neurodivergent sensory techniques like stimming. This making is embedded in research around twentieth century design principles, scientific research surrounding neurodivergence, and alternative pedagogical approaches.
contact me at: hughes.kayt@gmail.com
CV
Solo Exhibitions
2025: the art of living / the art of making, Abingdon Studios Project Space, Blackpool
2024: Thinking About Sonic Object, Paradise Works, Salford
2024: Thinking About Sonic Object, Paradise Works, Salford
2018: Balance, Stack, Play, Grizedale Forest, Lake District
2016/7: My Five Year Old Could Have Done That, Gallery North, Newcastle
2016: It May Not Be Perfect But It’s Mine, NewBridge Project Space, Newcastle
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023: Para-lab Report, Manchester
2020: Forced Collaboration, Online Project
2019: Depot Art Studios at Old Bank NOMA, Manchester
2017: Sexy Boy Unites Salford, After School Club, Paradise Works, Salford
2017: A Show About The Show, (Scaffold Gallery) at Bankley Gallery, Manchester
2017: Shared Space, Woon Tai Jee Studio, Newcastle
2016: In Cahoots, Hoult’s Yard Print Studios, Newcastle
2015: Woon Art Prize Shortlist Exhibition, BALTIC 39, Newcastle
2015: From Tokens to Totems, De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam
2015: Plat Form Plai Ground, North Laines, Brighton
2014: Soup Kitchen, Bohunk Institute, Nottingham
2014: PINK, My Sight Gallery, Nottingham
2014: Emerge, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
Other projects include: Para-lab member, Artful Publication, Apprentice / Master Kunstpodium T
Residencies
2023 - 2025: AA2A Blackpool School of Art
2021 - 2022: AA2A Staffordshire University
2016: In Cahoots, Hoult's Yard, Newcastle
Awards and Grants
2025: a-n Artist Bursary
2024: Develop Your Creative Practice, Arts Council England2019: a-n Artist Bursary2018: Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries
2017: Grant for the Arts, Arts Council England 2015: Woon Prize for Painting and Sculpture, BALTIC x Northumbria University
Residencies
2023 - 2025: AA2A Blackpool School of Art
2021 - 2022: AA2A Staffordshire University
2016: In Cahoots, Hoult's Yard, Newcastle
Awards and Grants
2025: a-n Artist Bursary
2024: Develop Your Creative Practice, Arts Council England2019: a-n Artist Bursary2018: Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries
2017: Grant for the Arts, Arts Council England 2015: Woon Prize for Painting and Sculpture, BALTIC x Northumbria University
Production and Curatorial Practice
2023 - present: Artist-Producer for Manchester Artist-Teachers Collective (with Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth and HOME)
2025: Agency Producer, The Agency at Contact Theatre
2023 - 2025: Artist Development Producer at HOME
2025: Agency Producer, The Agency at Contact Theatre
2023 - 2025: Artist Development Producer at HOME
2021 - 2023: Public Programme Producer at FACT Liverpool, projects including: Jack Tan: Performing Boardness; Framework for Trust; Yellow Furry Lullaby and Arabic Opera Performance
2022: City Coordinator for Manchester, British Art Show 9 including: City Commission by Katie Schwab and Art Agents
2020 - 2022: Associate Alumni with Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries
2019 - 2020: Exhibitions Producer at The Lowry
2018 - 2019: Education Coordinator at Liverpool Biennial / Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries Fellow
Other organisations I have worked with as a freelancer include: Starling CIO, CVAN National, Touchstones Rochdale and TripleC
Other organisations I have worked with as a freelancer include: Starling CIO, CVAN National, Touchstones Rochdale and TripleC
Talks and Presentations
2021: Keynote Speaker, People Place Power Conference - ‘Creative People and Places’
2021: The Role of the Producer in Socially Engaged Art, Making of Us, The Turnpike, Leigh
2019: ‘Socio-economic Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts: A Toolkit for Employers’ launch event with Jerwood Arts and MIF, in conversation with Julie Lomax, Director of a-n
2016: Fine Art Guest Artist Lecture, Northumbria University
2016: Inter-Educate, Nottingham
2015: De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam
2014: Fontys Hogeschool vor de Kunsten, Tilburg
2014: Process Symposium, Summer Lodge, Nottingham