I was born in 1957 in Box, Wiltshire and was brought up in Somerset. I studied Fine Art at London’s Goldsmiths College and the Slade School from 1981 to 1988. I received the Boise Travelling Scholarship in 1988 and spent the summer touring in the east coast of Canada and the USA. After a few exhibitions in London, including the Ecology Centre in Covent Garden and the Christopher Hull Gallery, I left for Scotland and made designs for stained glass, settling in the Stirling area. I started exhibiting at home and was the second person to show at the Stirling University Library in the On the Wall exhibition in 2006. I took part in the first Forth Valley Open Studios in 2010 and later formed the Red Tree Group with four other artists, having our first exhibition in my house in October 2010.
My work has started to take a different direction over the last year and I have returned to working in front of the subject, although I continue to recall these experiences back in the studio.
Further background
Early Beginnings
As far back as I can remember I think I’ve been interested in drawing pictures and as a child I would doodle and illustrate stories I’d written. At around the age of eight I was taken to see an exhibition of Paul Klee in Exeter, which I have not forgotten. Paul Klee, I would say, was my main influence from then on.
However, I did not pursue these interests until much later but studied other subjects including English and Philosophy in London.
Student days
From 1981 to 82 I studied at Goldsmiths College, London on a foundation course and specialised in painting (shown above). Having been accepted at the Slade School of Fine art in 1982, I spent a very enjoyable last term in the ceramics department at Goldsmiths.
I worked as an usher at the National Theatre in my undergraduate year until I was awarded a discretionary grant from the Inner London Education Authority. While working there I met lots of other art, dance, music and drama students and saw many productions.
I left the Slade in 1988 with an undergraduate and Masters degrees in Painting. I was awarded with a Boise scholarship to travel to Canada where I had family roots. Examples of work I produced at this time are Standing Stones (Orkney) and Wall Mosaic.
Places come up a lot as a starting point, but colour and atmosphere are important too.
Interest in design brought me to follow others into the Enterprise Allowance Scheme (EAS) to start a small business in stained glass design.
Scotland
After a move to Scotland in 1989, I returned to painting. The first picture came out of a trip to the West Coast in the autumn of 1994, producing Loch (above). In this picture the plane is inverted to make a flat design. I’m still interested in working in this way although I have also been using many other methods and techniques to abstract images including calligraphy and Winter Landscape (below).
In 2006, I was the second artist to exhibit at the University of Stirling’s On The Wall in the Library, a show curated by Jane Cameron and including Stony Path.
When Forth Valley Open Studios began in 2010, I joined the group of artists and makers in the Forth Valley area and exhibited at home where I have a studio and attic storeroom, which serves as an archive.
Finland 2007
In an informal capacity I worked in the art department in Rovaniemi at the University of Lapland. A picture painted there was given to Helka Urponen, Head of Continuing Education, is an example of my work there.
Sweden from February to March 2017
In 2017 I was the first artist in residence at the Jamtli Museum in Östersund, Sweden. I worked in a studio there and stayed on the campus. I had selection of my work sent over from Scotland for an exhibition, and I also painted a few more canvases in situ. Also, I organised workshops for adults and children (Illustrate with Spring Coming and booklet).
From 2010
Exhibiting regularly with Forth Valley Open Studios, I also showed work in Glasgow and Stirling Universities (where I have a picture in the Art Collection).
In 2011 a picture was accepted by the Royal Glasgow Institute for their annual exhibition.
The same year I had a solo show at Scion House at the University of Stirling. Another opportunity came the following year, 2012, to show there with the Red Tree Group formed in 2010. 2014 gave me an opportunity to exhibit in a public space on the 5th floor of the Saint Andrews Building at the University of Glasgow.
Dunblane Museum Gallery
I’ve had three shows at Dunblane Museum Gallery in 2015 2018 and 2022 with the first being experimental.
The invitation above includes Swallow (collage) from 2015.
The 2018 exhibition included Prayer (below).
The 2022 exhibition included Fresco 2 (below).
I am working on another show in Dunblane and exploring new ways of working.
Catherine Art 