Our Story

Kathryn excelled as a Speech and Language Therapist in her chosen specialism; paediatrics. By her twenties, she was Head of Paediatrics at Epsom and Ewell NHS Trust, whilst continuing to sell her art on the side in exhibitions and shops. Although it was exciting to be given such responsibility, her managerial role dominated her time and took her away from what she truly loved; art and working with children.

Speed forwards a few years and Kathryn realised how limited the art resources were for her two daughters – Rebekah and Emily – at school. Kathryn decided to make the leap and channel her expertise into creating an age-based developmental art programme for children; somewhere she could teach her children – and others – how to grow their visual and artistic skills. art-K was formed.

Kathryn’s club went from strength to strength. After operating for 10 years in 2010, art-K Ashtead was 30% oversubscribed. People were travelling over an hour to reach art-K Ashtead as there was nothing like it in their area.

After graduating, Emily was on course to join an Investment Banking Department within a major bank. The challenging environment was exciting and a great experience, however she found the lack of autonomy and creativity limiting. She missed the connection to the real world and work that benefited real people.

Having started the art-K journey together in 2000, Kathryn and Emily decided their skills and experience could grow art-K into a national brand that represents the future of arts education. Since deciding to expand art-K in 2016, art-K has grown to 30+ clubs, teaches 2000+ students per week and employs over 100 artists.

None of this would have been possible without the third member of their team, David. David ran various companies for 20 years and helped mentor and develop art-K to create a company with a strong corporate governance. He drives areas such as health and safety, customer relations, new systems and many more.    

Our goal is to ensure that every child or adult passionate about art has the opportunity to be a part of an art-K club in their local area. We’re looking to build a community of individuals who share a common passion and enthusiasm for creating art.

Our classes focus on building on the basic fundamental principles of art and using these skills as a foundation to build on to develop our student’s confidence in experimenting with all different artistic styles and mediums. That’s why our classes are tailored to each individual and open to everyone.