Catherine Stringer

About

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’. Currently Catherine is continuing to explore the potential of seaweed pulp as a creative medium, developing new techniques and applications.

Penguin Parade is Catherine’s current exhibition, which was launched online on 22/05/2020