ARTIST STATEMENT
The subject of my paintings is the fragile island we live on as it comes under increasing pressure from climate change and the ravages inflicted on it by man, and the actual process of making work is my passion. I believe that, in abstracting from life, total engagement with the subject is key, and constantly walking the land whilst making observational drawings enables me to extend a personal language of marks to convey the qualities of specific experiences based on sight, sound, touch and atmosphere.
On my return to the studio I continue to work with the drawings to enable the exploration of space and form and find ways into abstraction. This includes cropping, tearing, and collaging, together with free drawing exercises that liberate internalised experiences and memories through marks.
The paintings that follow are a conversation between materials and place, between the physical properties of oil paint and charcoal, canvas and paper and my passion for searching for what is real in a landscape through the process of abstraction. I aim for finished works that challenge the viewer, are rich in colour, line, tone, layering and texture and are imbued with atmosphere and a sense of place.
BIOGRAPHY
My creative career began in the UK as a social documentary photographer, followed by seven years as facilitator of a hospice-based project making books and films with people at the end of life. A graphic design degree followed but finding commercial work restrictive, I moved to West Cork in 2012 and committed fully to life as a painter, which offers the solitude, risk and freedom to which I am temperamentally best suited.
Alongside painting, I love life drawing and teaching adults mark-making at West Cork Arts Centre and from my studio. I also enjoy the challenges of exhibition curation and have been involved in several environmental campaigns through the arts.
I have exhibited widely including at the RA Summer Show in London, the RUA in Belfast, and the Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin. Paintings are in the OPW and Cork County Council art collections as well as in private homes in Germany, Switzerland, the U.S.A., the U.K. and Ireland.
CONTACT
Please contact me to find out more about my work, where to view, how to buy paintings or to arrange a studio visit.
Catherine Weld
Cooryleary, Coomhola
Bantry
County Cork
P75 A376
Ireland
E: catherineweld@gmail.com
M: 00 353 (0) 85 830 8918
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (solo and group)
2024 Ballina Arts Centre, Mayo (upcoming solo exhibition)
2023 Blue House Gallery Schull (upcoming solo exhibition)
2023 West Cork Creates Invited Spring Exhibition, Cnoc Bui, West Cork
2022 GOMA 6th Annual Members’ Exhibition (selected)
2022 Working Artist Studios, Ballydehob, Cork (solo)
2022 Blue House Gallery Schull, The Drawn Line (invited group show)
2022 Market House Gallery, Cappoquin, Waterford, Paintworks (3 person show)
2022 Hambly & Hambly, IMAGINE Spring Greens online, 9 artists, (selected)
2021 Cork County Council LHQ Gallery, Cork city, solo exhibition (up coming, November 2021)
2021 Signal Arts Centre Annual Open Exhibition (selected)
2021 The Square Gallery, Bantry, Cork, Gallery Artists’ Summer Exhibition
2021 West Cork Literary Festival, featured publicity artist (online)
2021 Blue House Gallery Schull Summer Group Show
2021 Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre Members’ Exhibition
2021 Ross Fine Art, Donegal, Gallery Exhibition
2020 Blue House Gallery Schull Gallery Artists’ Christmas Exhibition
2020 Blue House Gallery Schull Gallery Artists’ Rolling Summer Exhibition
2020 West Cork Arts Centre Winter Showcase Exhibition
2020 Lavit Gallery Members’ Exhibition (selected)
2019 GOMA Gallery of Modern Art, Waterford, group show (selected)
2019 Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin with Catherine Hammond Gallery
2019 Curator, The Drawn Line, Blue House Gallery Schull
2019 Blau Haus / Bauhaus, Blue House Gallery Schull
2019 Solo Exhibition, Boiler Room, Blue House Gallery Schull
2019 Heron Gallery, Kenmare, Co. Kerry
2019 Lavit Gallery Members’ Exhibition (selected)
2018 Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin with Catherine Hammond Gallery
2018 Solo Exhibition, Blue House Gallery Schull
2018 ‘Elements’, curated by Catherine Hammond, Skibbereen Arts Festival
2018 ‘Anseo’, Skibbereen Arts Festival
2018 ‘Light Sensitive’ Blue House Gallery, Schull
2018 ‘Tribal’, Blue House Gallery, Schull
2018 Blue House Gallery, (Solo)
2018 Elements: West Cork Landscapes, curated by Catherine Hammond, Skibbereen Arts Festival
2017 End of Season 2017, Catherine Hammond Gallery
2017 Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin with Catherine Hammond Gallery
2017 Blue House Gallery, (joint show)
2017 'Regions', Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre
2017 West Cork Creates
2017 Skibbereen Arts Festival, Best of Blue House Gallery
2016 End of Season 2016, Catherine Hammond Gallery
2016 Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin
2016 Blue House Gallery (solo)
2015 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2015 Blue House Gallery
2015 West Cork Creates, collaboration with Yvon O’Flynn
2015 Galway Fringe Festival, Visual Art Exhibition
2015 Hive Emerging Gallery, Waterford
2015 ‘Borders’ - Katmandu, Kerry and Kildare, Nepal Leprosy Trust
2015 The Clore Education Centre, The British Museum, London, Display Design
2014 Royal Ulster Academy 133rd Annual Exhibition
2014 1FT SQ, Higher Bridges Gallery Enniskillen, N. Ireland
2014 Visual Arts Open, Higher Bridges Gallery Enniskillen, N. Ireland
2011 ‘D&AD New Blood’, The Old Truman Gallery, Shoreditch, London
2011 ‘Em[body]ment’, The Gallery, AUCB, Poole, Dorset
2011 Growing Nature, (NHS Clinic permanent exhibition)
2010 ‘For the Love of Offset’, South Studios, Dublin
2008 The Mill Gallery, Lyme Regis, UK (solo)
2005 ‘Rosetta Life’, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset (arts in health)
2004 ‘Preserve’, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset (installation)
2004 ‘Rosetta Live!’, Riverside, Hammersmith, London (arts in health)
2001 ‘Postcards from the Line’, (Solo Show) Bridport Arts Centre, UK (installation)
RESIDENCIES
2019 Artist Retreat, Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry
2017 Artist Studio Residency, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre (10 weeks)
2016 Artist Retreat, Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry
2014 Artist Retreat, Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry
2003–2011 Artist in Residence, Trimar Hospice, Weymouth, Dorset
2008 Artist in Residence, Highland Hospice, Inverness, Scotland (3 weeks)
2007 Artist in Residence, Lewis Manning Hospice, Poole, Dorset, (10 weeks)
EDUCATION
BA(Hons) Graphic Design, (First Class)