ABOUT THE ARTIST
CATHERINE CARTER creates vibrant abstract paintings on canvas and paper. Her artwork features sinuous lines inspired by calligraphic marks, textile weaves, and natural forms such as branches, roots, and vines. A native of Massachusetts, she began her career in the fashion industry, then went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Catherine has exhibited her work at multiple venues, including the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and the U.S. Embassies in Oman and Cameroon. Her shows have been reviewed in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Providence Journal, and Art New England. Her artwork is held in a number of public, corporate, hospitality, and private collections. The recipient of artist grants from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and New Bedford Creative, she lives and works in Southcoast Massachusetts.
Catherine has exhibited her work at multiple venues, including the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and the U.S. Embassies in Oman and Cameroon. Her shows have been reviewed in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Providence Journal, and Art New England. Her artwork is held in a number of public, corporate, hospitality, and private collections. The recipient of artist grants from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and New Bedford Creative, she lives and works in Southcoast Massachusetts.
"A delightful rethinking of the elements of calligraphy as they morph into the movements of choreography." -- Don Wilkinson, Arts Writer
REPRESENTATION
Elise Moore Fine Art, Cambridge, MA
Erdreich-White Fine Art, Boston, MA
Libby Silvia Artstyle, Wellesley, MA
Erdreich-White Fine Art, Boston, MA
Libby Silvia Artstyle, Wellesley, MA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Art Making Women: Fantasy & Realities, Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA, 2023
Filigree, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA, 2019 (solo)
Otherworldly, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2018 (curator and participating artist)
Ornamental, The School of Fashion Design, Boston, MA, 2017 (solo)
Lines of Communication, Fountain Street Fine Art, Boston, MA, 2017 (three person)
Show of Hands: Gestural Works on Paper, Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, Boston, MA, 2017 (curator and participating artist)
Contemporary Women Artists, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI, 2016
Actions/Reactions, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, 2013 (three person)
Exponential: Four Artists Explore Infinity, Mount Ida College, Newton, MA, 2013 (curator and participating artist)
Painting NOW, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2010
Art In Embassies Program, U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Oman, 2010-12
Art In Embassies Program, U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon, 2008-10
Natural Wonders, Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 2009 (three person)
Women of the Cloth, Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA, 2008
Inviting Response, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA, 2006
Sky, Stem, Stream, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, 2005 (solo)
CON/TEXT, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2004 (three person)
Interlacings, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 2004 (solo)
New Paintings, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2003 (solo)
Drawings, Objects, Ceramics, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2002 (three person)
New Paintings, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2001 (solo)
Abstraction in the Year 2000, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2000 (three person)
Filigree, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA, 2019 (solo)
Otherworldly, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2018 (curator and participating artist)
Ornamental, The School of Fashion Design, Boston, MA, 2017 (solo)
Lines of Communication, Fountain Street Fine Art, Boston, MA, 2017 (three person)
Show of Hands: Gestural Works on Paper, Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, Boston, MA, 2017 (curator and participating artist)
Contemporary Women Artists, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI, 2016
Actions/Reactions, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, 2013 (three person)
Exponential: Four Artists Explore Infinity, Mount Ida College, Newton, MA, 2013 (curator and participating artist)
Painting NOW, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2010
Art In Embassies Program, U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Oman, 2010-12
Art In Embassies Program, U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon, 2008-10
Natural Wonders, Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 2009 (three person)
Women of the Cloth, Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA, 2008
Inviting Response, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA, 2006
Sky, Stem, Stream, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, 2005 (solo)
CON/TEXT, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, 2004 (three person)
Interlacings, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 2004 (solo)
New Paintings, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2003 (solo)
Drawings, Objects, Ceramics, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2002 (three person)
New Paintings, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2001 (solo)
Abstraction in the Year 2000, Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA, 2000 (three person)
SELECTED REVIEWS
"Carter exhibits a six-piece series which reveals a certain playfulness in the way she makes a line or smears a section of the surface, eschewing any hard edge or abrupt stops. In 'Birch Stripes,' squiggles of chocolate brown move across the surface like a cake icer’s message. 'Spring Stripes' include bands of soft pink, baby blue and Irish Spring green markings, none rising to become anything truly discernible, which is likely her goal." -- Don Wilkinson, Fall River Herald News, 4/29/23
"Carter's contribution to the show is a series of paintings made from acrylic applied to sheer white fabric that's been cut up and reorganized in rows of small circles. The resulting forms, although from a single cloth, become their own unique compositions, existing next to one another like small globes exploded from the same star." -- Liz Lee, Art New England, March/April 2018
"Carter's circles are decorative in the best sense of the word, marked by delicate lines and bolder strokes. With 'Shadow Spheres,' a largely blue work, one can imagine the spheres themselves as portholes to another dimension, a strange otherplace behind the white wall." -- Don Wilkinson, New Bedford Standard-Times, 3/8/18
"Catherine Carter's rhythmic squiggles take their inspiration from nature, from branches and spider webs, roots and vines. They are well made, with a wonderful sense of line that Carter suggests blends calligraphic forms and gestural drawing. Carter squirts paint from squeeze bottles onto the paper, and in some cases blots it to soften the edges and create crinkled surfaces that look like they were made by a kiss." -- Channing Gray, Providence Journal, 8/17/16
"The essential images in Catherine Carter's paintings resemble a mix between loops of Silly String and hieroglyphs from an ancient language." -- Chris Bergeron, Metrowest Daily News, 9/22/13
"In the playful pair of works by Catherine Carter, the artist's lines follow infinite permutations within a finite space." -- Janet Garvey, U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Exhibition Catalog, 2008
"The paintings pop off the wall, thanks to the sheer tension of her gestures and thanks to the contrast: All the paintings are either black-on-white or white-on-black. Carter displays a handful of different recipes. Many of the 'Coil' paintings bring to mind the joyful wagging of a dog's tail. Two larger works, 'Curve' and 'Swirl,' sport colliding loop-the-loops, like a Slinky gone horribly awry. The white-on-black pieces are sexier, provoking an Op Art kind of retinal buzz. ... 'Swirl' shows those aggressive black curlicues careening over the canvas as white hazes over their sharp edges and obscures occasional lines, imbuing the painting with spaciousness." -- Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 12/19/03
"Patterning and technique are consistent, but the paintings vary widely in tone. ... Ethereal purple rings play tag with the squares, shifting from foreground the background, making a pleasing counterpoint between solidity and haze, reality and imagination. ... Carter's formula for making art generates work both pleasing and harrowing, and that's good." -- Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 12/22/01
"Carter's contribution to the show is a series of paintings made from acrylic applied to sheer white fabric that's been cut up and reorganized in rows of small circles. The resulting forms, although from a single cloth, become their own unique compositions, existing next to one another like small globes exploded from the same star." -- Liz Lee, Art New England, March/April 2018
"Carter's circles are decorative in the best sense of the word, marked by delicate lines and bolder strokes. With 'Shadow Spheres,' a largely blue work, one can imagine the spheres themselves as portholes to another dimension, a strange otherplace behind the white wall." -- Don Wilkinson, New Bedford Standard-Times, 3/8/18
"Catherine Carter's rhythmic squiggles take their inspiration from nature, from branches and spider webs, roots and vines. They are well made, with a wonderful sense of line that Carter suggests blends calligraphic forms and gestural drawing. Carter squirts paint from squeeze bottles onto the paper, and in some cases blots it to soften the edges and create crinkled surfaces that look like they were made by a kiss." -- Channing Gray, Providence Journal, 8/17/16
"The essential images in Catherine Carter's paintings resemble a mix between loops of Silly String and hieroglyphs from an ancient language." -- Chris Bergeron, Metrowest Daily News, 9/22/13
"In the playful pair of works by Catherine Carter, the artist's lines follow infinite permutations within a finite space." -- Janet Garvey, U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Exhibition Catalog, 2008
"The paintings pop off the wall, thanks to the sheer tension of her gestures and thanks to the contrast: All the paintings are either black-on-white or white-on-black. Carter displays a handful of different recipes. Many of the 'Coil' paintings bring to mind the joyful wagging of a dog's tail. Two larger works, 'Curve' and 'Swirl,' sport colliding loop-the-loops, like a Slinky gone horribly awry. The white-on-black pieces are sexier, provoking an Op Art kind of retinal buzz. ... 'Swirl' shows those aggressive black curlicues careening over the canvas as white hazes over their sharp edges and obscures occasional lines, imbuing the painting with spaciousness." -- Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 12/19/03
"Patterning and technique are consistent, but the paintings vary widely in tone. ... Ethereal purple rings play tag with the squares, shifting from foreground the background, making a pleasing counterpoint between solidity and haze, reality and imagination. ... Carter's formula for making art generates work both pleasing and harrowing, and that's good." -- Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, 12/22/01
