Katie Ellen Wilkins is an Australian artist living and working on Awabakal Country in Newcastle/Muloobinba.

Her practice centres on material, colour and process. Working across painting, collage and mixed-media construction, she uses stained and painted fabrics, dyes, ink, thread and other materials to build works through layering, cutting, rearrangement and repetition.

With a background in natural dyeing, Wilkins is particularly interested in the physical behaviour of colour and materials, the ways they absorb, move, react and change through contact with water, pressure, gravity and time. Her process moves between deliberate composition and the unexpected marks and shifts produced by the materials themselves.

Wilkins is also the founder of Studio Tinta, an independent creative studio focused on natural dye practice and community engagement. Her book, Hand Dyed Designs, was published by Hardie Grant in 2025.

In 2025, Wilkins was selected as one of two artists to present a solo exhibition as part of Collect: Focus at The Lock-Up, Newcastle. She is currently a resident artist at the Creator Incubator.

Exhibitions

2025 Collect: Focus, The Lock-Up, Newcastle/Muloobinba, NSW

2026 Hunter Emerging Art Prize (Finalist), Newcastle, NSW

2026 Collect, The Lock-Up, Newcastle/Muloobinba, NSW

2025 March Forward, The Creator Incubator, Newcastle, NSW

2025 Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

2024 Collect, The Lock-Up, Newcastle/Muloobinba, NSW

Email: katie.ellen.wilkins@gmail.com
Instagram: @katieellenwilkins_