Artist Biography

Catherine Richardson born in England immigrated to USA  at age 27. She currently lives and works in Healdsburg, California, and Somerset England. She has a BFA in studio arts, Surrey Institute of Art and Design, UK, and received her MFA in studio arts from John F. Kennedy University, California. 

Formally trained as a goldsmith and a blacksmith, painting, printmaking and drawing now define her art practice.
Her work explores ideas of deep geological time she regards as the scaffold of landscape.

Richardson has received a fellowship award from Surrey Institute, UK; the SCEAA (Sonoma County Emerging Artist Award) in 2005; Visions Of Science Award from Bath University inn 2018. Her work is in numerous collections including Bath University, UK; Sonoma State University-The Benzinger collection, CA; Kerwin & Associates, Menlo Park, CA, plus several private collections. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including California, London, and Washington State.

Selected publications include;
Extraction-Art on The Edge Of The Abyss (Catalog and Exhibition guide ) P.110-113 & 398-399, 2020; West Marin Review, volume 17, 2016; Sarah Lawrence College publication of Art & literature, volume xv 2016, Spring Edition.

Recent Art Residencies include; Lucid Art Foundation, Pt Reyes, California;
Gullkistan Arts, Laugarvatn, Iceland; Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs, S. Ireland.
Lectures include to student body at Berkeley City College, Berkeley CA. And Sonoma State University, Ca.

Artist Statement.

Influenced by hidden histories, geological structures and unearthing of components buried, my work hints a cryptic allure to what might lay hidden beneath a surface we traverse constantly; the scaffold of a landscape and of a place.
My recent drawings appear floating and dream-like, seemingly searching for a foundation as they portray layers of time; periglacial features, scree slopes, Lava fields, mining etc. Using a mix of disparate substances such as oil and water, inks (some home concocted), and acrylics to highlight textures, I circumnavigate composition, colour, intuitive gestures, fine marks and weighted lines.  I alternate scale and substrates. I love paper and working larger on canvas or wood panel.

I’ve come to understand that my method of working unites the impressions of vast landscapes of California, Peru and Iceland to the history so entrenched in British culture and my personal story.