Biography
Solo Shows:
17/01-29/01 2012 Pride in the House Winner, 11th Annual Art Award, Lauderdale House, London
02/09-23/09 2011 Nokia UK, London, UK
27/05-24/06 2011 Nokia House, Espoo, Finland
22/03-23/05 2010 Belsize Health, London
1995 Poetry Society, London (collaboration with Bridport Poetry Prize Winner, Nicola Waldron)
Nov 1988 ‘Do the Locomotion’, Yorkshire Dance Centre, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Group Shows:
June 2012 Clifford Chance Fifth Annual Transatlantic LGBT Art Exhibition, London
12/07-24/07 2011 Pride in the House, Finalists show, Lauderdale House, London
13/05-22/05 2011 Life Drawing & Painting, Candid Galleries, London
Sept 2009 Candid Artists Group Show, Candid Galleries, London
Dec 2009 Candid Artists Group Show, Candid Galleries, London
May 2007 Hope Gallery Group Show, London
1990 Leeds Artists Show, Leeds City Art Gallery
1990 ‘Art From Here to Tomorrow’, The West Yorkshire Playhouse
1989 Taking Root, Bristol Cathedral
1989 ‘Animal Rights & Wrongs, Community Copyart, London
Residencies:
Nov 1988 Yorkshire Dance Centre, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Commissions:
Nov 2011 Birch Bark Panels commission, Satu Nevalainen, Finland
1989 BBC Television. ‘After Icon’:
Theatre work (masks and props):
1990-1996 Full Moon Theatre Company
1990-1996 Faceless Theatre Company
Qualifications:
1985-1988 BA (Hons) Fine Art 2:1, Leeds Polytechnic (Metropolitan University)
1983-1984 O.N.D. in general Art & Design (Merit), Amersham College, Bucks
CATHY STOCKER was born in Taplow, Bucks in 1965. She studied at Amersham College of Art and Design and Leeds Polytechnic (Metropolitan University), graduating in 1988 with a B.A. (Hons) in Fine Art. Cathy has exhibited in the UK and Finland and was the first Artist in Residence at the Yorkshire Dance Centre where she also had her first solo show in 1988.
Cathy Stocker is a visual artist who works predominantly as a painter with a strong interest in landscape and the weather in landscape. Her awareness of the manner in which 20th Century conflict has shaped our environment also influences her subject matter.
Stocker has spent the last couple of years seriously interrogating the medium of acrylic and her use of mark making is intended to elicit an emotional response from the viewer. Since 2009, she has started exhibiting her work regularly in group and solo shows (Finland and the UK).
Her latest work, ‘Black Mountain’ series is concerned with what lies hidden in the landscape, the geology beneath the surface, its composition and what gives it its identity. It is Stocker’s hope that this new enquiry will gain a wider audience.
Cathy Stocker’s Vanajanlinna series of ‘Betula pendula’ (Silver Birch) paintings were inspired by a trip to Finland in 2009. “My initial line drawings of Silver Birch trees reminded me of the ghosts of soldiers, forgotten Finnish infantrymen who would have fought in this type of landscape, and in the dense fir forests of this region, in the Second World War. I thought the birches looked like they were standing on guard, but without branches or leaves, almost as if no longer connected to families at home; alone, but standing together, in death as in life; a tree for every soldier.” This work evokes the memory of the fallen their own flesh feeding the trees that now represent them. As Finland’s national tree it could come to symbolize each death in much the same way as the poppy does for the UK.
Stocker later became interested in the texture and detail of the bark itself, the layers of which constantly peel, like layers of skin. This led to ‘The Birch Tattoo Series’. “Sometimes the bark is covered in moss, possibly telling us a story about its own landscape, describing forests on a miniature scale. By burning the outlines of branches and trees onto the bark, I like to think I’m describing that landscape – as a kind of tattoo of itself on its own skin.”
Stocker’s work ‘Cae Du’ a series of Welsh night-seascapes use one to three colours at the very most in each painting. “I am able to concentrate on the light, or lack of it, as it darkens in front of my eyes, where at dusk the colours begin to merge into one another, becoming black and white as night falls.” She has experimented with specific acrylic washes to evoke the elements contained within both sea and clouds.
To view each piece of work individually, for best results, select one of the category buttons and click on the thumbnail of the image to view the work in full screen, you will find full details and prices. If you are interested in purchasing any of the work, send Cathy an email quoting the reference number or paste the URL in the ‘Subject’ field, she will then get back to you a price and availability.
One Comment to “Biography”
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Hi Cathy
Love the paintings. They remind me of landscapes we came across in northern Germany last year. Fabulous!!
Very inspirational!
Alison x