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Caregivers Residency Blog: Katie Schwab

Katie Schwab in the SSW Ceramics Studio, image credit: SSW

Katie Schwab, one of the five 2025 SSW x Counterflows Caregivers Residency artists, reflects on her time here at SSW in February, April and May.

The SSW x Counterflows Caregivers Residency was set up in 2020 to expand funded residency opportunities to artists who are also caregivers.

Words and images below by Katie Schwab. Final image by Mike Bolam.

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My caregiving experience has been characterised by family illness, birth and death in close succession. This residency opened up a space to reflect on these life changes, material cycles and processes of transformation.

I travelled to SSW four times between February and May 2026, journeying up through the Cairngorms in snow, sunshine and hail. Family joined at different moments. Below is a timeline, of sorts, that characterises the thinking and making I/ we undertook during the residency. Deep thanks to the SSW team and fellow residents for your kindness, inspiring conversations, material insights and technical support.

Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: snow, slabs, footprints, fences, grids, plaits, extruded lines, ribbons in plaster, red onion skins, teabags, banana skins, eggshells, copper wire, porcelain cast ribbons, fire
a grid of footprints in snow
Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: painted eggs, chocolate rabbits, daffodils, slide, ball bearings, railway, whistle, horn, tiles, pharmacy, tiles, pine cones, twigs, bark, feathers, straw, leaves, wax resist, foil, shimmer, smoke, ash, yogurt, trains
colourful toy trains and carriages branch out from one another on outdoor paving
Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: kazoos, submerged piano, chirps, croaks
a mosaic grid of black and smoky whitish tiles
Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: migraine, melting pewter, plasma cutter, crackle, ash glaze, tiles, tiles, tiles, tiles, tiles tiles, tiles, tiles, tiles, monochrome, diagonals, stripes, raku, hoursehair, wool, pearlescent, woods, sauna, steam
a workbench covered in a grid of small white tiles, small strips of masking tape are stuck all the way around the edge of the bench
Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: sticks, letters, fingers, tiles, tiles, clay resist, masking tape resist, sugar, cracks, shredded paper, sawdust, bin, fire pit, cast iron pot, combustion, smoke
a smoky pit firing with a metal pot filled with small tiles
Words in black font, laid out in a grid on a white background. The words read: blanket, floor, moths, holes, snow
an exhitbition installation. A carpet of white tiles covers the floor and red and yellow ribbon loop along two walls.

Artists / News / Residencies / Residency / Residency 5:33 pm , August 28, 2026 Comments Off on Caregivers Residency Blog: Katie Schwab
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