Kate Houghton is a free-lance artist and mural painter. She has a keen interest in the role drawing can play in learning about our native flora. Kate graduated with an M. A. in Fine art from Reading University going on to be awarded a Boise Traveling Scholarship by the Slade School of Art. Fascinated by the growth forms of plants she has made this central to her discipline as an artist. Her foray into the world of Botanical Illustration won a RHS silver medal in 2007 for her collection of themed works on the structures of plants raised though one season.
In 2006 Kate was commissioned by Nottingham University to produce a large scale Diptych for their department of Plant Sciences. Solo exhibitions of her paintings include ‘Force of Nature’ Lancaster Environment Centre 2011 and ‘Observations on Common Plants’ University of Oxford Botanic Garden 2013. In 2018 she completed a residency at Ruskin’s home Brantwood with an exhibition of paintings based on the native ferns growing there.