artist statement

I consider myself a visionary.  I view my artwork as inspiring, uplifting, and peaceful.  I work with nature, both mother nature and the human nature. I paint, photograph, draw, and most of the time work in the world of mixed media.  I like the freedom to use whatever techniques necessary to create the most perfect image. I like the freedom to work with landscape and portraiture and floral and any other genre I wish.

Illuminated Realism is a term I coined to describe my work. Sometimes simply beautiful, other times metaphysical, always reverent to nature and the human condition.

I'm one of the fortunate  few who has been able to do art work in earnest, but without the need to sell.  I am my own muse, along with my relationships, passions, and, my entire life experience.

There is a simplicity in my art that sometimes may be misunderstood. It's not that my work is devoid of intellectual content...It's that I have distilled my thoughts, process and imagery to the point,  that  it has come full circle, and once again, it is simple, clean,  and innocent...Intellectual sophistication with a pure heart...................

My favorite statement about my art..."Cate, when i look at your work i am being reassured...it is as if someone was making these works for me."  Kostas Epimenidis Thessalonik  Greece

EDUCATION

B.S., M.A., M.F.A., DEPT. OF ART University of Wisconsin, Madison
with honors and scholarships
M.S., Dept. of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Professional artist, widely collected, including Art Institute of Chicago.
National awards and over 200 shows. 1975-present

EXHIBITIONS AND COMPETITIONS  (partial list)

John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL, A Celebration of Family
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, Images of Women****
John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI,  One Person Show
Rhode Island School of Design,  One Person Show
Bernal Gallery, Chicago, One Person Show,
Madison Art Center, One Person Show
Bergstum Maher Art Center, Neenah, WI, One Person Show,
Burpee Art Center, Rockford IL****
Evanston Art Center, Evanston, WI, Two Person Show
Jaques Baruque Gallery, Chicago, IL,
Van Stratton Gallery, Chicago, IL
Santa Fe Gallery of Photography, Group Show,
University of Iowa, Ames, Refocus****
University of Wisconsin, Madison, One Person Show
John Michael Kohler, The Human Image in American Art,
Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI, One Person Show
Infinite Eye Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, One Person Show,
Focus Gallery, SF, CA, First Light
Milwaukee Art Center, Group Show,
Dallas Art Center, Woman
Northern California Center for the Arts, One Person Show
Anchorage Art Center,
Tahoe Art Center, One Person Show,
Tahoe Art Center****
24th  Annual Art on Paper, Annapolis, MD,
The Stage Gallery, Massapequa, NY
De Ricci Gallery, Edgewood College, Madison, WI, One Person Show
Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI, One Person Show         ****awards

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS  (partial list)

Art Institute of Chicago
Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts
Milwaukee Art Museum
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Maine
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin

MIXED MEDIA: Generally my process is collecting images, which include my photographs, drawings, paintings, and others as well.  An idea strikes me, somehow...   I then proceed to find the images that will best illustrate the idea. This  part of the process is something like making a collage, but with the computer, via Photoshop.  I have used  up to eleven photographs in one image, sometimes I use one. after I refine the image, I print it on cotton paper. I then go into the piece with soft pastel, sometimes water color, and even glitter.  I spend, sometimes days, working the image after the print stage.

PAINTING: My painting style was developed while watching Roberto Lupetti paint. He was born and raised in Milan Italy. He earned five degrees from the Italian Royal Academy of Fine Arts, was a team member for the refurbishment of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, and immigrated to the U.S after World War II.  He is best known for his Renaissance art and large murals.  I had the good fortune of sitting with him, watching him paint, and listening to his wonderful stories about his youth, artists he knew, and the things he has learned throughout his long and fruitful life.

PASTEL: Lucus Samaras, a New York artist born in Greece inspired me to pursue soft pastel. I saw a show of his pastels that knocked my socks off. I then began to work with them, with much frustration initially, but with time I was able master the technique and now use pastel as comfortably as I use my camera and the brush.