Catherine Eaton Skinner
I am a multidisciplinary artist, painter, printmaker and photographer, and sculptor usually in cast glass and bronze. I consider my exhibitions successful when they create a quiet space, suggesting connections to unexplored ideologies with the sense of something outside quotidian life, the powerful convergence of energies and intentions that we describe as meditative. Pursuing a deep investigation of the ritual number 108, I often use repetition and primal tantric forms, investigating how methods of numerical systems and patterning have been used to construct order to an unstable and ever delicate world. My work and travel center on understanding the patterns of cultures and finding ways to align with their chosen sacred spaces. The power of the natural world–its intrinsic energy and fundamental properties– depends on a fine balance. Maintaining the balance among the five elements – earth, fire, water, air and space, and understanding their energies is paramount to our survival. From the Northwest, I received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Studio Art at Stanford University. I began my professional career as a marine biological illustrator, gradually expanding to cultural subjects: the domestic realm, then distinctive aspects of other sites and peoples as my international opportunities grew. I have developed a full time studio practice in encaustic painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture, working in my Seattle and Santa Fe studios. Completing 35 solo exhibitions and multiple national group invitational shows, I have also attended multiple workshops in printmaking, painting and multimedia. Two residencies at Pilchuck Glass were cast glass with Judy Hill, and images on glass with Joanne Teasdale; two residencies at the Santa Fe Institute of Art were with Nathan Oliviera and then Anne Truitt. 108, a monograph published by Radius Books of Santa Fe and designed by David Chickey, was released in 2016, including 140 images from my serial investigations and featuring my poetry and chronology. Unleashed, a monograph of animal eye encaustic works was published with the Woodland Park Zoo and University Washington Press. I have been fortunate to be included in many personal and public collections over the years of my career.
Year
1999
Website
Location
Seattle, WA USA
Santa Fe, NM USA