Katharine Dowson studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art and employed various materials such as wax and latex, and transparents such as glass, to define her work. Dowson was commissioned to create work for Spectacular Bodies at the Hayward Gallery 2000, and in 2004 the exhibition Head On; Art with the brain in mind, co-curated by the Science Museum and the Wellcome Trust. She is currently in the USA touring exhibition Gregor Mendel: planting the seeds of genetics.
Katharine's work can be found in the permanent collections of the Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England, Ulster Museum, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Cultura Englese, Brazil, and the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University.