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kshields.bsky.social
K Shields
@kshields.bsky.social
77 followers 71 following 190 posts
Artist / Queer
kateshields.co.uk / kateshields.substack.com
Any pronouns
Chronically ill and #ActuallyAutistic
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kshields.bsky.social
K Shields @kshields.bsky.social · Jun 9
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 💗
kate shields | art | k shields | Substack
I write about my art, processes and research. Click to read kate shields | art, by k shields, a Substack publication. Launched 3 years ago.
kateshields.substack.com
kshields.bsky.social
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 💗
kate shields | art | k shields | Substack
I write about my art, processes and research. Click to read kate shields | art, by k shields, a Substack publication. Launched 3 years ago.
kateshields.substack.com
June 9, 2025 at 10:01 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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...
a world in a sauna
I'm doing a residency in a sauna + 'I HATE SOCIAL MEDIA'
kateshields.substack.com
June 1, 2025 at 2:56 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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 smashed iPhone laying on a concrete floor. The screen is white and black and yellow hols text ‘I hate social media’
May 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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
A woodland nook in a sunny field. Looking out over a wooden fence, there is a small treehouse stage in the distance amongst the trees. A small nuclear standing stone in an expanse of grass. To the right two people are walking across the grass and smiling Two people stand on the steps of a small wooden stage in a woodland clearing.
May 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by K Shields
translegalproject.bsky.social
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.
emiliab.bsky.social EmiB71 @emiliab.bsky.social · May 24
#UK #JKR In what comes as a surprise to nobody, JK Rowling has embarked on her next phase of her path to radicalization. She now also offers to fund legal cases - provided applicants meet certain criteria. jkrwf.org?fbclid=IwQ0x...
The J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund
A legal fighting fund for women protecting their sex-based rights
jkrwf.org
May 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by K Shields
acornunion.bsky.social
🚨 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!
May 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
kshields.bsky.social
Fun with stone and glass textures in Blender
An abstract, composite digital shape on a bright yellow background. The shape consists of 4 merged jagged objects with jagged edges, one of stone, 2 are almost like glass. They are earthy tones, blues, greys and dusty pink
May 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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 bright greenish yellow background with black digital meshes of stones forming a section of a stone circle A portrait of me, an artist with dark short hair wearing a black vest top and red lipstick, standing infront of a projection of my work ‘organsongs’. A pink hazy organic shape is projected across my face and body as I turn my head slightly to the right of the scene. A selection of experimental life drawings on brown paper. 3 large figures drawn with charcoal and pale skin-toned chalk. The lines are smudged and smeared giving the appearance of movement.
May 19, 2025 at 8:43 AM
kshields.bsky.social
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)
A piece of paper featuring brightly coloured hand drawn maps laying on a dark green blanket. There are legs of 2 people just visible around it. The cover of the TTRPG ‘a quiet year’ held in my hand, with green grass, wildflowers and bushes in the background
May 19, 2025 at 8:31 AM
kshields.bsky.social
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.
May 13, 2025 at 5:30 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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.
kierongillen.bsky.social Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · May 11
"There’s now a standard way to tell the rest of this story. I’m supposed to reassure you with an upbeat tale of self-acceptance. Instead I’m going to make things awkward and tell the truth."
‘I came out as autistic. Everyone said: That explains a lot’ | The Observer
An autism diagnosis helped Laurie Penny make sense of their experiences, but its real value was in helping them understand the rest of society
observer.co.uk
May 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
kshields.bsky.social
Blindboy is always good but this is VERY good
blindboyboatclub.bsky.social TheBlindboyPodcast @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social · May 9
New podcast. I speak about Kneecap as art, the new dangers of protest, and the Irish revolutionary tradition of art, protest and solidarity. Dog Bless 🇵🇸🇮🇪 open.spotify.com/episode/2KNY...
The boundaries between Protest and Art
The Blindboy Podcast · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
kshields.bsky.social
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...
An image of a yellow sand circle full of small stones in a large empty church space. Text overlaid reads: ‘FUTURE STONES a look back at my week-long residency at Fabrica Gallery + other stuff’ Part 1 of a wide digital artwork. A bright yellow/green background with a selection of stones seen as black meshes. Part 2 of the image, showing the other side of the image.
May 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
kshields.bsky.social
Spent most of my 2nd time with COVID playing #DiscoElysium
I’m just really sad I couldn’t get Lieutenant Kim to trust me.
Screenshot from Disco Elysium. A run down street with ‘UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI’ painted in red letters.
May 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
kshields.bsky.social
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
A laptop showing a bright orange and pink pattern sits on a white desk surrounded by cables and projectors. Projections cover the walls from different sources.
May 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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
A plague on a brick wall reads ‘This stone was found wedges in a hole in the bottom of the Frigate HMS PiQUE C. Captain the Hon H.J Rous R.ND when the ship was docked in Portsmouth in Oct 1835. The PIQUE had run ashore in the Belle Isle Straits, Labrador, in Sept of that year. After refloating herself she sailed across the Atlantic without a rudder & with pumps continuously manned to control her leaks. But for this stone, acting as a plug to one of the larger holes, she would certainly have foundered. A splendid feat of seamanship.’
May 3, 2025 at 4:20 PM
kshields.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!
May 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by K Shields
loreandordure.com
Absolutely adore the elegance of this. Love having a job where I stumble over this kind of stuff in the (digital) archives!
An 1857 visualisation of the animal kingdom, tree-of-life inspired but curly and swishy and elegant.
April 30, 2025 at 6:22 PM
kshields.bsky.social
….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!
A large church hall, with soft morning light through tall windows illuminating a circle of stones on the wooden floor. An empty church hall with a wooden floor and tall stained glass windows at one end
April 25, 2025 at 9:38 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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. ✨
A close up of a hand anointing a stone with oil. A hand holds a slip of paper that reads “the symbolic aspect of lots of special stones making their way to another point of connection.” A long table covered with cut outs of words on white paper being organised into a different order A ceremonial metal bowl in the centre of a yellow circle of sand filled with water and yellow rose petals. Next to it is a paper scroll tied with a yellow ribbon. Smoke drifts in from the top right of the image.
April 24, 2025 at 7:48 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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 group of people within an old church engaged in a series of tasks. Some are around a square table covered in paper and materials. Some are standing near a large yellow circle made of sand. A close up of a miniature standing stone, black and white patterned, stands on a wooden floor covered in yellow sand. In the background is a line of other stones, just out of focus. A person wearing a black skirt and top bends over placing a stone within a large yellow circle on a wooden floor. A sketch of a hagstone with a poem written around it by someone named Jem Verse. 01/04/25
April 23, 2025 at 10:02 PM
kshields.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
An old wooden floor, illuminated by a strip of sunlight. There are markings on the floor made using bright yellow sand. Hands holding out a large flat piece of quartz stone, which glistens in the light A piece of paper with a list of words written in charcoal: ‘heart earth smooth closed secret black back’ The name ‘Jane’ appears at the top. A continuous line drawing on white paper of two intertwined figures walking
April 22, 2025 at 7:58 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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)
A Celtic tarot spread on a wooden church floor An old church with a grey concrete floor: in the centre of the floor is a stone circle made of yellow and silver paper stones, bright yellow sand, and flowers. A long wooden table up against a white wall. On the table is a selection of books. Hanging on the wall is a ordnance survey map of Brighton. A screen shot from a phone showing a 3D digital scan of a rainbow-tinged stone.
April 21, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by K Shields
morganmpage.bsky.social
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...
Illegally Female
The UK's Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that trans women are not legally considered women.
www.autostraddle.com
April 16, 2025 at 9:59 PM
kshields.bsky.social
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
A theatre stage lit in dim blue lighting, showing a replica of the Nirvana Unplugged in NY stage set. A chandelier hovers high above, before the musicians walk on stage. The finale of NO APOLOGIES, a brightly lit yellow stage full of musicians surrounding a performer standing on flight cases dressed as Kurt Cobain in a yellow gown that represents the sun. She is singing to the gathered audience. Six musicians stand in a final curtain call, smiling with their arms around eachother.
April 18, 2025 at 4:50 PM