Catherine Beaudette has been a painter for most of her life but at her core, I think she is a collector. She has always had a fascination for what life leaves behind; human or natural detritus, whether in abandoned houses in rural Newfoundland or bones and seaweed she finds on beaches or rusted objects and street waste found in alleyways. Catherine loves to collect and assemble. I’ve often thought of her as a cultural anthropologist whose passion for painting made her an artist. With an exceptional eye for detail, her work portrays her masterful talent in creating lush exquisitely rendered oils and watercolours with her signature sensuous palette. I love how paint comes alive at the end of her brush.
Catherine harvests art from the untraditional. Her work often challenges you to see beauty in the banal and appreciate the ordinary presented in extraordinary ways. What is commonly overlooked by most often becomes the center of Catherine’s focus.
Catherine has always created community through her practice as an artist. Since her early days in Toronto, she has been creating and curating art shows big and small. From window storefronts and unrented space to abandoned buildings on the Bonavista Peninsula, Catherine has a knack for making art come alive wherever she lives. She’s an art activist with bold ideas and big follow-through. Pure and simple she is a visionary who loves to manifest through making art and helping the world see more of it.
-Written by Heather Lindsay, a poet living in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
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Which neighbourhood are you in?
I live in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood and spend summers in Nova Scotia. Both environments, urban and rural, feed my spirit and influence the content of my work. After many years in Toronto, I am happy to be back to Montréal close to the mountain, surrounded by great food and culture.
What do you do?
My walks and cycles around the city provide the observations that I transform into talismans of experience through the methodical, meditative work of painting in the studio. I merge objects and artefacts, natural and manmade into assemblages that mimic the world around us. My expanded practice includes painting, photography and installation.
What are you currently working on?
Currently, I’m preparing for two upcoming exhibitions in Quebec and Nova Scotia. I have just taken down my window installation ‘Vie Maritime’ at La Vitrine on Rue Rachel Est. Photo Gaspésie is a summer festival that runs from July to September on the Gaspe coast where I will be installing a photomontage that faithfully reconstructs a Newfoundland shed. In September my paintings will be featured in a 2-person exhibition at Hermes Gallery in Halifax.
Where can we find your work?
My work can be found on all of these websites as well as on my own website and Instagram.
