Penelope Kay
Penelope is originally from St. Albans but has lived in Orkney since 2022, enjoying being a student on an MA in Contemporary Art and Archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Before that she studied at Edinburgh College of Art and has a BA in Fine Art, specialising in sculpture.
At present Penelope does not have a special medium, preferring to work with ideas in a medium that is appropriate to the project. Her projects are all art and science motivated, and at various times she has been inspired by veterinarian practice, genome studies, psychiatry, ecology and geology. She is now garnering archaeological ideas of time and place to inform her current work.
She likes to work in collaboration with scientists, testing ideas and creating work that resonates with the science.
Penelope’s underlying questions are What makes it art? and Why do artists and scientists like to work together? In a quest to answer this last question, she has often explored the notion that games are fundamental to the experimental approach that both artists and scientists enjoy.
Explore more of Penelope’s work on her website and Instagram.
Wordmaker Tiles, 2015. Making words from A,C,G and T from Genome Games project.
Slider Puzzle, 2015. Agar ink and 15 petri dishes in a frame. Interactive investigation of the order of A, C, G and T, from Genome Games project
The Sea is Big, 2021. Jar of sea on a plinth from Acid Tide project
Sketch for The Same Rock, 2025. From the 900 Years of Edinburgh project
Looking Back, 2025. Photos of The Same Rock on a drying rack in Manse Lane. From the 900 Years of Edinburgh project