Practical Magic is a collaboration between Worthing based Life Design & Empowerment coach Kate Taylor and London artist & printmaker Mat Denney. It exists to help those who come into connection with it to activate their inner wisdom through the Practical Magic. Practical Magic invites both the subversive and intuitive powers of the mind and body to create a subconscious reaction to its environment to create a new paradigm in which we can create more empowered responses. It invites you to connect beyond layers of cognitive thought through The Practical Magic Activation Deck; a creative mindfulness toolkit comprising of a deck of 56 individually illustrated cards and book, and the illustrated artwork created for the deck by Mat.
As part of the Practical Magic project Mat created limited edition set of hand-pulled screen prints of five of the Practical Magic illustrations: Vaporise, Pleasure, Lost In Music, Strike A Pose and Compassion, which will be available at Colonnade House throughout the week of the exhibition, along with the deck itself and open edition giclée prints of the entire 56 illustration collection.
Illustrator of Practical Magic artwork Mat Denney says of his approach to Practical Magic, “I wanted the Practical Magic artwork to have a vibrant, distinct look to anything else on the market. The cards needed to capture Kate’s energy, “rocknrollness” and feel relevant to a modern, urban setting, because Practical Magic lives in the real world, not a fantasy never-never land. I wanted each card to have its own visual personality. I’m deeply influenced by music — its textures and rhythms as well as the graphical way it’s represented — so I approached the project as if I was designing 56 album covers. I began to think of the deck as th greatest hits compilation of disco floor fillers, Day-Glo new wave stomps, angular punk explosions and heart-stopping ballads.
My palette and influences draw from my favourite bands, pop culture, pop art, film titles, cartoons, classic book design, the DIY aesthetic, paste-up street art and indie zines, with elements informed by my background in printmaking: expressive brushstrokes, digital texture, warm and fuzzy crayon lines, paper-cut, photo collage — the marriage of analogue and digital.”
About the Practical Magic Creators: Combining brains and beauty
Created by human dream catcher and leading life design & empowerment coach, Master NLP Practitioner & Clinical Hypnotherapist Kate Taylor, Practical Magic is Kate’s blended melting pot of expertise and extensive learning in the fields of coaching, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), mindfulness, psychology and neuroscience along with a little rock n’ roll.
Kate has worked with hundreds of clients all over the world helping them activate and empower their inner wisdom, and is regularly featured in publications such as Natural Health, Psychologies, At the Moment, Sheerluxe, as well as being the host of the popular Practical Magic Podcast, and creator of The Awakening, a festival of wellbeing and self care on the Isle of Wight.
Mat Denney is an artist, printmaker and creative. He’s interested in the crossover between new technologies and traditional processes and uses printmaking as an intrinsic part of the mark-making and drawing process, with works constructed from diverse analogue sources — pencil, brush, CGI, spray paint, ink, photography and found textures. He uses digital to manipulate and composite these disparate elements back into a cohesive whole.
Denney’s work is often about the nature of reality and truth, metaphysics, symbol, language and joy. The work often retains evidence of its process in the form of registration marks, tape, grids, etc. to draw attention to the constructed nature of reality: giving the viewer a glimpse “beyond the curtain” to the world behind the scenes.
He draws inspiration from language, film, technology, set design, advertising/propaganda and graphic design — using symbolism, wordplay and visual jokes to leave clues for the viewer to decipher, often from a queered perspective. He frequently uses absence as a storytelling tool, with subjects represented through objects and possessions.
He studied fine art printmaking at Norwich School of Art, and now prints at Bainbridge Print in south London. He is a visiting lecturer at the Department of Creative Professions and Digital Arts, Greenwich University and London College of Communication.
Open Tuesday – Saturday // 10.00 – 17.00.