Artist Statement
For almost 20 years, I walked the edge of the Neponset River in Dorchester and Milton Massachusetts while developing a multi-use trail system and parks. This gift of time spent on the river taught me much about its habitats: estuary, salt marsh, meadow and forest. I’ve spent most of my life as a landscape architect and was involved with the visual and natural world – just not as a fine artist. I came to printmaking and painting rather recently.
Nature and landscape have been a constant inspiration. The abstract aspects of the landscape with its interrelationships of forms, lines, color, light, and sense of place inspire me. Gazing through the grasses, rocks and vegetation along the water’s edge I imagine what lies beyond, under the water’s surface. I tease out the complex colors of the view.
I begin the design process through drawing. I never quite feel in control of this expression. My initial color choices are intuitive and take cues from nature, a subconscious response to what I see. I use a variety of techniques: woodcut, serigraphy, stencils and chine-collé to express what I see.
My work is evocative, expressing a memory of place with its structure, order and subtle complexity. My work is personal and has a strong sense of design, color and use of technical skills.
Biography
Cathy Garnett is a visual artist, primarily a painter and printmaker. She holds a diploma in studio art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has recently moved to the Midwest.
Cathy was selected to be an artist in residence at Acadia National Park, Schoodic Point in late Spring of 2017.
For as long as she can remember she has wanted to paint. Recently, her work, “Tidal Creek”, an acrylic painting was selected as best in show at the Three Stones Gallery in West Concord’s emerging artist show.
Cathy holds a Masters of Landscape Architecture and worked as a professional landscape architect in the Boston Area.