Catherine was born in Barrie Ontario, but grew up in various communities in Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick, and is currently settled in her studio back in Barrie, primarily working in oils.

My work emerges from a sustained inquiry into powerlessness; how it is learned, internalized, and resisted. As a woman, and as a child whose voice and bodily autonomy were denied, I became acutely aware of how power operates quietly and persistently through dismissal, erasure, and control. Painting has become my way of pushing back. Each work functions as my act of resistance, a scream against the void, yet always carrying a glimmer of hope. Without hope, rebellion would be impossible.

I am currently developing this series titled Garden Sculptures, in which I examine powerlessness within both personal and collective contexts. Drawing on classical art history and myth, I reference figures and visual languages that have traditionally embodied authority, beauty, and permanence. These historical forms are disrupted and recontextualized through contemporary cultural references and current events, creating a tension between the past and present. The imagery offers viewers a familiar entry point while unfolding into layered emotional and symbolic readings.

Formally, my painting focuses on simplification and saturation. I build images with many thin layers of oil paint, creating smooth, distilled forms and using intense saturated colour to describe light and shadow. This deliberate control allows the emotional content to surface, while visually imposing control which the subjects are struggling against.

Ultimately, my work strives to make the powerless visible and seeks to start conversations that will expose the injustice of the systems that we are all living within.

Spending my life moving and travelling, inspired my deep love of Canada, and influenced my perspectives of the world. In my teen years, I attended a school that specialized in visual arts where I trained in the European tradition of reproducing masters’ work and extensive anatomical study, in addition to a study of art history, myth and literature. I then took time to raise my two children while I continued to create, and went on to teach art privately and in several private schools.