Catie Barron: How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Cedarburg Cultural Center’s Working Artist Series/Artist in Residence program is flourishing in its second month. Mary Groh Mendla started things out in her elegant style, oil painting her way through four weeks of ethereal abstracts, sunrises, and sunsets.

Now, it’s oil painter Catie Barron’s turn at the easel. Catie is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute Chicago, and—like her art—she is colorful, beautiful, and just looking at her makes you smile. Catie’s specialty is flowers. Her pieces meld fantasy into realism, a kind of cross between a botanical study and an illustration for a children’s picture book. (You just KNOW there are Lilliputian pointy-eared, pointy-shoed fairies hiding between the petals of Catie’s gargantuan flowers!)

As magical as Catie’s paintings are, something magical is also happening at the Center. People are coming in from off the street, pulling up a chair, and just watching the artists working. They ask questions, they comment, they share. They are engaged. And the artists seem to bloom right before these visitors eyes! They talk about their technique, their history, their creative process, and—when young and budding artists are present—they encourage. And all the while, they create. Catie is prolific, and a veritable garden of canvases has sprung up underfoot.

I urge you to come and watch. Be a part of the process. It’s a unique opportunity for both the artist and our guests. Catie will be with us every Tuesday and Thursday in August from 10 – 5, except when I steal her away for lunch! For photos and more about the Artist in Residence program, check out our Facebook page.

Posted on Wed, August 17, 2011 by Lauren Rose Hofland, Cedarburg Cultural Center filed under

2 comments (Add your own)

1. Catie Barron wrote:: What an amazing experience this is. I have never experienced this type of excited curiosity, as there is within the heart of Cedarburg. I would advise all artists to break out of their comfy studio space and step into the luxurious windows of the Cedarburg Cultural Center! Not only have I stepped out of my studio, I have stepped out of my usual routine and techniques to investigate something new.

I have also heard from many repeat visitors about how wonderful it is to have a new artist here every month. Many talk about type type of work that Mary was doing during her time there and they compare it to my work. It made me realize that they are given the gift of experiencing different artists and the inside view of what makes them who they artistically are every 30 days. Fabulous!
Wed, August 17, 2011 @ 8:33 PM
2. Ikha wrote:: Hi! I came over to read your post after senieg the Facebook link, and I'm glad I did. Early on in my art journey, I was lucky that an artist acquaintance told me, "If you tell people that you are an artist, then you are one." She'd struggled with claiming that identity because she's a beader, but once she did, she never looked back. When I arrived at that moment, it felt a little odd to say the word, but I remembered my friend's experience, and I plunged in. Now, when I encounter people who have that same sticky relationship with the word "artist," I encourage them to use it, too. I get a lot of eye rolls (esp. from women 50 and over!), but it's my pleasure to tell them that I see their inner artist, and it's okay to let it show!
Wed, February 29, 2012 @ 2:09 AM

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