Catherine is a fearless and frenzied creative. In any one of her pieces, a hundred marks and overlaps might sit beneath her signature.

In painting, Catherine is constantly scraping, wiping out, and flooding the canvas with colour. On the page, she uses acrylic and posca to draw shimmering webs of dots and lines. Sometimes a bird or bridge takes shape - other times, she gives herself over completely to abstraction.

Catherine’s involvement in Love owls and mermaids singing in the rainbow pop, a 300 square metre site-specific mural in the Grand Court of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, was a major coup for the emerging artist. Commissioned as part of Archie Plus, Catherine was tasked with “portraying a person or being who has supported her during 2020”. She decided to portray the Little Mermaid - an enchanted princess who espouses the values of courage and persistence. It’s little wonder the artist, who never fails to launch herself completely into her craft, felt an affinity with the character.

In 2019, Catherine was one of two Studio A artists invited to the Museum of Contemporary Art to host a feather making workshop in celebration of the International Day of People with Disability. The event was the bookend for the ‘Bella Plus Connect’ program that year - a monthly community drop-in program for individuals and groups with disability or access requirements.

Catherine’s first major acquisition was with the North Sydney Council who added her piece Two Parrots to their permanent collection. She was later commissioned by the council to produce an interactive display for their Children Festival. Catherine’s trademark technicolor palette also caught the attention of the Westpac Foundation, who decorated their 2019 Changemaker Summit with a selection of her paper and soft sculptures (alongside contributions from fellow Studio A virtuosos, Greg Sindel and Katrina Brennan).

In 2018, she received mentorship from Sydney figurative painter Paul Williams, who found - in a love for eccentric materials and tendency to ‘think big’ - his equal. 

-Words by Will Kollmorgen, Studio A volunteer.