Catherine Stringer is a Hobart artist whose practice is inspired by water and the sea, and also by her interest in the human psyche. She trained in painting and photography at the Tasmanian School of Art, has also studied psychiatry and Chinese language and is a keen scuba diver. Catherine works both individually and collaboratively. Past collaborators have included musicians, poets and dancers as well as other visual artists. Current work comprises oil and acrylic paintings of underwater imagery and paper-making.
Catherine is fascinated by the visual and sensual qualities of water and the feeling of weightlessness when underwater. She is also attracted to the symbolism of water, its ability to conjure narrative and metaphor and the connection with the mysterious vast unknown.
Catherine’s underwater scapes look beneath the surface of a range of Tasmanian waters, from deep sea caves and kelp forests to mountain creeks and tarns, and have been selected three times as finalists in the Glover Prize.
Other underwater paintings contain figures; these images often become ambiguous and evocative, akin to dreamscapes or poetry.
Catherine’s paper-making techniques were explored during a King Island residency in 2011 using local seaweeds and shore plants. She has maintained her links with King Island and has further developed her paper-making process to create work inspired by the King Island shipwrecks, especially that of the ‘Neva’. This work is delicate and poignant. In July 2017 Catherine completed a residency in Iceland where she explored Icelandic seaweeds and Icelandic folk tales. Work inspired by Iceland will be exhibited in her forthcoming solo exhibition Seal Woman in June 2018 at Red Gallery, Melbourne.
Currently Catherine is continuing to explore the potential of seaweed pulp as a creative medium, developing new techniques and applications.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Neva Vestiges, King Island Cultural Centre
2016 Neva Reliquary, Moonah Arts Centre
2012 Just Waving, Rosny Barn, Tas
2010 River Turns, Goulburn St Gallery, Hobart
2009 See View, Cultural Centre, King Island
2009 Face Value, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2008 Red Gate Artist-in-Residence, Beijing, China.
2007 Still Waters, Galerie Aqui Siam Ben, Vallauris, France
2006 Dancers and Dreamers, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2006 Testing the Water, BBoss, Hobart
2004 Salted With Fire, Walker St Gallery, Dandenong, Victoria
2004 Off Stage, is theatre ltd, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2003 Resonance, Republic Bar and Café, North Hobart
2003 Free Flow, True Blue Gallery, Hobart
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
Polar Festival, Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland
2016 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
Bruny Island Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Bruny Island, Tasmania
2016 Myth and Memory, Beth Hulme Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Hutchins Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hobart
Elements, Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
Ten Years, King Island Cultural Centre
2014 Eight Weeks in Xi’an, SNNU, Xi’an, China
Wrest Point Art Awards, Hobart
2013 Hutchins Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hobart
What Lies Beneath, Backyard Gallery, Ballarat
Material Girl, Moonah Arts Centre
Waterways, Hobart
Wrest Point Art Awards, Hobart
2012 Red Gate Residency Open Studio Exhibition, Beijing, China
Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale, Tas
2011 Fleurieu Water Prize Finalists Exhibition, Goolwa, South Australia
King Island Cultural Centre
Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale, Tas
Waterways, Hobart
2010 Belle Arti, Metro Arts, Brisbane
Menzies Art Exhibition, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2009 Cricket Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Sydney Cricket Ground
2008 Endangered. Drawing the Line. Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
Red Gate Residency Open Studio Exhibition, Beijing, China
2007 Pencil It In, The Salamanca Collection, Hobart
Works in Progress, BBoss, Hobart
Au Lavoir de Mougins Village, Mougins, France
Small Art Objects 2007, Galerie Aqui Siam Ben, Vallauris, France
Art Melb 07, Melbourne Exhibition Centre
2006 Arts on Whittle Ward Exhibition, Moonah Arts Centre
Playing Up, Schoolhouse Gallery, Rosny
The Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale
RESIDENCIES
2017 Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland
2012 Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
2011 King Island Cultural Centre
2008 Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
2007 Vallauris, France
2005 Whittle Ward Palliative Care Unit, Hobart
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2010 Queenstown HUB
2006 Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit, Royal Hobart Hospital
Past events
Sea Stories
Exhibitions
This event has already occurred.
Edward Street, Currie TAS 7256
Neva Vestiges
Exhibitions
This event has already occurred.
Edward Street, Currie TAS 7256
Neva Vestiges
Exhibitions
This event has already occurred.
Edward Street, Currie TAS 7256
King Island Arts & Cultural Centre
Galleries, Studios
Edward Street, Currie TAS 7256
Catherine’s solo exhibition Neva Reliquary at the Moonah Arts Centre in April 2016 presented handmade-paper works inspired by the Neva shipwreck off Cape Wickham, King Island in 1835. This work then travelled to King Island where it was on display at the King Island Arts and Cultural Centre. Neva Reliquary included the ’28 Catherines’ series, comprising 28 small paper dresses , one for each of the Catherines on board the Neva. A few of these dresses are still currently on show at the King Island Cultural Centre.
Catherine’s work can be purchased online at www.catherinestringer.com.au and at www.saatchiart.com/catherinestringer or https://bluethumb.com.au/catherine-stringer. Visitors are also welcome to make an appointment to meet Catherine at her studio in Taroona, Hobart.
Contact her via email.
