First Name
Cathy
Last Name
Watkins
Business Name
Partner Name
Media Category
Mixed Media
Image1
Region
Maine Lakes/Mountains
Membership Level:
Basic Membership
About
Statement
Paintings on paper, pieced together like quilts*, map daily experience through a language of color and notation. Like all my artmaking, these tiny 6” x 6” microcosms are fueled by the practice of yoga and walking, moving through landscapes, both internal and external -- landscapes remembered, repaired, and imagined. I gather motifs from microscopic worlds, anatomical drawings, vintage diagrams, from images that jump off the pages of the media I consume and from my dream world. But most of what inspires me comes directly from the landscape and the time I spend in it. While I appreciate a magnificent vista (and often hike long hours to reach one), I’m not a landscape painter who tries to capture that view. I focus instead on small moments, instances of form, pattern and texture, where I find wonder in the seemingly mundane. On a given day I might sketch the root system of a tree, photograph the track of a mussel in the mucky lake bottom, harvest intricate seed pods or a piece of wood riddled with insect tunnels. I return from daily walks with sticks in my hands and pockets full of stones. My work is to translate the birdsong, cairns, flowers and bones into a private taxonomy of motifs, a personal mythology.
*Each painting submitted for Tiny Treasures floats in a two-sided frame that reveals the back where small paper “bridges” hold the paper fragments together with glue.
Biography
Catherine Robohm Watkins is a multimedia artist and former arts educator who recently moved to Jackman, Maine full-time after 36 years in the classroom. Watkins holds an undergraduate degree in art from Yale University and graduate work in painting at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. While making mixed-media sculptures and paintings she is continually discovering new approaches to fuel and shape her art--most recently these include forays into scenic design and puppetry.
Paintings on paper, pieced together like quilts*, map daily experience through a language of color and notation. Like all my artmaking, these tiny 6” x 6” microcosms are fueled by the practice of yoga and walking, moving through landscapes, both internal and external -- landscapes remembered, repaired, and imagined. I gather motifs from microscopic worlds, anatomical drawings, vintage diagrams, from images that jump off the pages of the media I consume and from my dream world. But most of what inspires me comes directly from the landscape and the time I spend in it. While I appreciate a magnificent vista (and often hike long hours to reach one), I’m not a landscape painter who tries to capture that view. I focus instead on small moments, instances of form, pattern and texture, where I find wonder in the seemingly mundane. On a given day I might sketch the root system of a tree, photograph the track of a mussel in the mucky lake bottom, harvest intricate seed pods or a piece of wood riddled with insect tunnels. I return from daily walks with sticks in my hands and pockets full of stones. My work is to translate the birdsong, cairns, flowers and bones into a private taxonomy of motifs, a personal mythology.
*Each painting submitted for Tiny Treasures floats in a two-sided frame that reveals the back where small paper “bridges” hold the paper fragments together with glue.
Biography
Catherine Robohm Watkins is a multimedia artist and former arts educator who recently moved to Jackman, Maine full-time after 36 years in the classroom. Watkins holds an undergraduate degree in art from Yale University and graduate work in painting at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. While making mixed-media sculptures and paintings she is continually discovering new approaches to fuel and shape her art--most recently these include forays into scenic design and puppetry.
Image2
Image3