Biography

Versatile designer and creative thinker: Kate earned her BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001 where she began working with everyday materials and creating unique costumes and head-dresses. Kate collaborated with colleagues and the Community Arts Partnership, a new program instituted to build bonds through art between the college and the surrounding community of Baltimore.

The aesthetics and cultural practices of community parades and festivals informed Kate’s exploration of outrageous headdresses and fantastical costumes. She then returned back to her native home of Brooklyn, New York and freelanced as a costume designer and window display artist. During those two years, Kate also worked at Parsons Meares and Timberlake Studios making costumes for Broadway and Disney productions.

Realizing that she was not content to simply build other designers costumes, Kate began a rigorous three year program at the Yale school of Drama. There she learned theater history, traditions and practices and received her MFA in 2006. Currently, Kate compliments her collaborative work in the theater with intense independent studio work creating jewelry from zippers. The Zipper Jewelry is sold across the country in galleries and museum shops and has been featured in various publications both online and in print.

E-MAIL: kate@katecusack.com

PHONE: 718.812.9295