Kate Coe, also known as Ekaterina Temnomeroff Chernikhoff, was born in 1971, in the city of Leningrad in the Soviet Union (Russia), into a family of Russian intelligencia. Kate was raised by her grandmother Ksenia Chernikhova a linguistic teacher and self-taught artist, and her mother Elena Chernikhova (born 1933) – Professor of Geography and Methodology, who also taught Technical Drawing in her earlier years.
Her fascinating, unique, family history has had a huge effect on Kate’s upbringing, and in forming her character, and style.
Her grandmother Ksenia Temnomerova (later Chernikhova) (1905 – 1994) was born in 1905 in St. Petersburg (Russia) to one of the highly influential social figures in Monarchy Russia – Archbishop Appolony Temnomerov (1867 – 1933). Ksenia’s privileged childhood and private education came to an abrupt halt due to the Russian revolution in 1917. Because of her bourgeois background she was not allowed to enter university, and was restricted in her choice of work.
On the 13th of December 1932 Ksenia got married to the love of her life – Iakov Chernikhov, Constructivist Architect, Artist, Teacher and Author (Addendum 1).
A year later they celebrated the birth of their daughter Elena (Kate’s mother). After this event, the couple made the tragic decision to divorce. Ksenia “had to free” her husband architect from her “bourgeois roots” in order for him to progress his career in Soviet Russia.
Iakov soon moved to Moscow where he re-married a “working” class woman. Nevertheless, he stayed deeply devoted to his daughter Elena, and her mother Ksenia. Despite the hardships of the Second World War, and the blockade of Leningrad, he continued to visit his daughter Elena. Ksenia never re-married.
Iakov Chernikov’s used his visits to Leningrad to spend as much time as possible with his daughter Elena, and was eager to teach her as much as he could. Under her father’s influence Elena developed an interest in geometric ornament and technical drawing, which led to her early career teaching technical drawing.
Elena (Kate’s mother) is the first art teacher Kate remembers. When Kate was four, Elena taught her the very basics of drawing, using pencil and watercolours, later moving onto the basics of technical drawing and fonts.
Kate was also influenced by her grandmother’s sketches and her grant aunt’s (Claudia Temnomerova) paintings. Claudia Temnomerova was an artist, and a theatre/stage decorator. She, like her younger sister Ksenia, was also not allowed a career because of her bourgeois roots. Claudia who was very close to Kate, died young. Kate has kept Claudia’s paint brushes, and still uses them occasionally, when she wants to connect to her childhood.
Kate’s favourite subject at school was Art. She was always involved in all sorts of decorating and art projects. She was also designing, and decorating, everything she could put her eye and hand on.
So, it seemed natural that it could be easy for Kate to become an artist… But growing up in an artistic family with such traumatic history meant that young Kate “learnt” that Art brings suffering, and decided that she would not be an artist – definitely not in the Soviet Union.
Instead Kate gained an MA in Geography and Teaching, and occupied herself with a career in education, whilst trying not to involve herself in art in any way.
Finally in 1996 she realised that she could not live without Art and Design, and changed her school occupation to a career in fashion and advertising industry. Entering the world of design, she took a job in advertising with one of the top magazines in St Petersburg. Within the short period of two months, she was recognised as being a very creative person. This led to Kate being offered a position as a photographer, and art-director assistant. Her meteoric career in advertising and the fashion business grew rapidly, with Kate being invited repeatedly, to work with the top photographers, model agencies, and fashion brands as a stylist and make-up artist. She also continued to work with various magazines in St Petersburg as a fashion designer, creating exclusive costumes for cover shoots and advertising.
Kate’s progress led her to organise her own Photography and Design studio in St Petersburg, where she enjoyed working with her fellow designers, photographers, and models. This was also the time when she created her first paintings which she actually hung on the wall. But she still did not want to be professionally, or officially involved in art whilst living in Russia.
A turning point came In 2001 when Kate moved to England. After few years of living in the UK, away from the oppressive country of her birth, Kate started slowly allowing herself to believe that it is no longer dangerous to be an artist (as it used to be in Soviet Union when she was a child). She was able to come to terms with her true nature, recognising that painting is her survival aid.
Kate‘s has developed her own distinctive style, using her favourite medium of acrylic on canvas. She likes to experiment with abstract forms and fluidity. There are no beginnings or endings in her paintings – only continuation, and interconnection. Her artwork represents images of her inner world, and are full of life and mystery. Through form and colour she express’s her unique, and bright individuality, which was suppressed during earlier years of her life in Soviet Union.
Alongside painting, Kate continues working with photography, and clothes design. Recently, she has also started illustrating children’s books.
Addendum 1:
Iakov Chernikhov (1889 – 1951) was a Soviet (Russian) constructivist architect, artist, teacher and author. He was one of the most forward and unusual constructivist artists of his time in the Soviet Union. His unique architectural fantasies were considered dangerous to the Soviet Regime, and this led to some difficulties in his life.
During his life Iakov Chernikhov produced around 17.000 architectural drawings that were years ahead of their time, many of which were held in Moscow Russian State Archive after his death. In 2006 hundreds of Iakov Chernikhov’s drawings were stolen from the Archive with an estimated value of $1,300,000. Only around 270 of his drawings have been recovered.
Iakov Chernikhov wrote a number of books:
The Art of Graphic Representation (1927)
Fundamentals of Contemporary Architecture (1930)
The Construction of Architectural and Machine Forms (1931)
101 Architectural Fantasies (1933)
The Construction of Letter Forms (1951)