Artist Statement

           Catherine has spent her entire life exploring the visual arts in unique and creative ways. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Catherine attended Teacher's College in Lausanne where she earned her degree in Children's Pedagogy.

In 1983, Catherine arrived in Canada to stay and often credits the country's accepting atmosphere with giving her the confidence and freedom to explore her imagination. Catherine’s creative energy defines how she interprets the world and approaches her life. She turned her family's year-long tour of the Pacific into three coffee table travel books.

Her decade-long experience teaching children through the arts found expression in the five French children's books she wrote and illustrated.

        In recent years, Catherine has turned her creativity to painting with acrylic and mixed media. She now spends her days energized by hours of painting abstract and semi-abstract works in her studio just across the yard from her house in North Vancouver, where she lives with her husband, son and daughter. Catherine considers herself lucky with her painting endeavour, meeting great mentors at strategic points on her journey.

        Firstly, she studied with Jeanne Krabbendam, a great mixed media artist, who showed her how to paint with acrylics and using different textures, media and techniques. Then Catherine was lucky and met another artist, Nurieh Mozaffari, who taught her to train her eye in composition using different painters' styles and how to properly mix colours.  Her latest mentor, Steven Aimone, emphasized and pushed her to her next stage, to paint from the inside, with emotion, expressing herself with no thoughts of right or wrong.

What Catherine wants to demonstrate in her abstract painting are feelings and emotions and let the viewer dream and see what they have inside of them. This is the beauty of abstraction. She loves the way colours express and give the viewer an impression of freedom, liberty of movement, harmony and most of all she desires to show happiness in her paintings. She likes spontaneity and liberation in her work.

        In the past few years, Catherine has been painting with a group of 5 women and is stimulated by all that positive energy that it gives her. She paints daily in her studio, is passionate about the process of painting, and is very happy to be fortunate enough to be able to proceed with her career as an artist.  

"Life is art….at least to me."

Upcoming exhibitions

2011

·        June             Art Salon, Ferry Building, West Vancouver, BC

·        November    Kunst Supermarkt, contemporary Art Show, Soleure, Switzerland

Selected Exhibitions

2011

·        April             Art Crawl, North Shore, Vancouver, BC    

·        March          U8 group show, Sopa Gallery, Kelowna, BC

·        January        Art Rental Show, CityScape Gallery, North Vancouver BC             

2010

·        November      Small, Smaller, Smallest Show (juried), Federation Gallery, Granville Island, Vancouver

·        October          5 Senses and Sensibilities (group exhibit, juried), CityScape Gallery, North Vancouver

·        September     The Sixth Sense, Scotia Creek Gallery, Whistler BC

·        August           Harmony Arts Festival (juried), West Vancouver

·        August           Permanent Art Show, Trisconi, Vionnaz, Switzerland

·        July                North Shore Artist Guild ( group exhibit, juried), Ferry Building, West Vancouver

·        June               Summer Solstice, Leighdon Gallery, Vancouver

2009

·        October         Juror’s Choice Award Show, Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver

·        October         Abstract Group Show, Art’ et Miss Gallery, Paris, France

·        October         Exposition permanente, Trisconi, Vionnaz, Switzerland

·        August          Harmony Arts Festival, (group exhibit), West Vancouver

·        April              Stepping into Abstraction, Silk Purse Gallery, West Vancouver

2008

·        November     Annual Fine Art Sale, North Shore Artists’ Guild, North Vancouver

·        June              Joy Of Abstract, (group exhibit), l’Alliance Française, Vancouver

2007

·        February       Salt Water Studio, (group exhibit), Granville Island, Vancouver

To visit the North Shore Artist Guild website CLICK HERE