Kate (Catherine) Samworth (born 1967) is an artist, author and illustrator whose book ''Aviary Wonders Inc.: Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual'' won the
Kirkus Prize
The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...
for Young Readers in 2014 with the judges saying it was "one of the most creative books we have ever encountered." Her illustrations frequently involve the natural world and human interaction with it. Samworth's travels—to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
, and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
—are a source for her artwork. Her book, ''Aviary Wonders,'' is a mockup of a catalog in a future world with
extinct birds
Out of the approximately 11,154 known bird species, 159 (1.4%) have become extinct, 226 (2%) are critically endangered, 461 (4.1%) are endangered, 800 (7.2%) are vulnerable and 1,018 (9.1%) are near threatened. There is a general consensus among ...
. Readers are invited to peruse "a charming selection of bodies and wings, and assemble a realistic bird automaton." Samworth says she is "trained in observational drawing and painting" and influenced by the darker aspects of
Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...
Balthus
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his image ...
."
She has illustrated four books, including ''Aviary Wonders Inc.'' and ''Grand Isle'' (Samworth is the author of these two), ''Why Fish Don't Exist'' by NPR science journalist Lulu Miller, and ''Liza Jane and the Dragon'' by Laura Lippman.
Samworth studied and taught painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art, and considers Auseklis Ozols one of her mentors. She received a BFA from
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her paintings and prints are in the collections of the
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
The is one of the oldest art museums in Japan. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Museums"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 671-673. It is located in Okazaki Park in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, and opened in 1928 as a commemoration of Emperor Hirohito's coro ...
, the
Woodmere Art Museum
Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...
, and the Fundación Lolita Rubial in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.
Personal life
Samworth was born in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
and raised in the suburbs of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
She played bass in the band
Fire Party
Fire Party was a band from Washington, D.C. They were together from the autumn of 1986 to the spring of 1990. The band members were Amy Pickering (vocals), Natalie Avery (guitar), Kate Samworth (bass), and Nicky Thomas (drums).Strong, p. 333
Hi ...