1. Education and Career

2. Technique

3. Recognition

4. References

5. External links

Education and Career

Catherine Farish was born in 1951 in London, England.^[5] Her father was British-Canadian, her mother Italian, and her family resettled in Montreal, Canada, during the mid-1950s.^[6] She received a diploma in Fine Arts from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School in 1976 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (cum laude) from Concordia University in 1983.^[6] A founding member of the Montreal print collective Atelier Circulaire,^[7] she studied with master printer François-Xavier Marange in 1986.^[4] Her early work was figurative and a print inspired by Leonard Cohen's poem "Gift" was awarded Grand Prize in a 1992 Loto-Quebec competition.^[8][4] In 1994 Farish's first abstract exhibition, Salisbury Plain at Galerie Simon Blais (Montreal), drew positive reviews in Voir, and Parcours Arts Visuels.^[9][10] Solo shows followed at Open Studio (Toronto), Galeriwan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia),^[11] Hope Corman Gallery (Victoria BC), Autre Équivoque (Ottawa ON),^[5] and at Cynthia Reeves' Spheris Gallery (Walpole NH).^[11] By 1997 Farish had replaced the central subject with multiple elements in the series Primo pensiero exhibited at Galerie Simon Blais.^[5] She also participated in the international group exhibitions: The Levee: Where the Blues Began shown in Canada, the United States, South Africa, Japan, and Korea; Veille at Bibliothèque nationale du Québec in Montreal, at the Boston Printmakers 50th Anniversary Exhibition,^[19] and at Galerie Echancrure in Brussels, Belgium.^[12]

Following an art residency at Asilah, Morocco, Farish adopted a North African palette of vermillion and orange.^[11][13] This new work was exhibited in 2001 as Dépaysment at Galerie Simon Blais,^[14] and the following year as Persimmon Prints at Spheris Gallery in New York City and Walpole, New Hampshire.^[15] In 2007 she exhibited with Louis-Pierre Bougie and François Vincent at Atelier Circulaire's 25th anniversary show where an interest in Asian calligraphy was noted.^[7][13] In 2009 she began to experiment with player piano rolls as surface and theme which led to the solo exhibitions Notes in 2011 and Blue in 2015 at Galerie Simon Blais.^[16][17] That year Farish's series of circular compositions Many Moons was exhibited at Cynthia-Reeves' New Hampshire gallery and at 2016 Pulse New York.^[18][19] In 2017 her Salisbury Plain series was exhibited at the UK Salisbury International Arts Festival.^[3] She was also selected by the UK multimedia project Cicatrix to represent Canada in the 2018 WW1 commemorative exhibition at the Swindon Art Gallery and Museum.^[3][20] In 2016 Farish lived and worked near Montreal, Quebec.^[20]

Technique

Farish's multi-layer monotypes and prints are characterized by "luminous tones and contrasts surgically presented within mixed media: etching on copper and cardboard, collage with Chinese paper, drawing or added pigment."^[10] Created through multiple runs with found objects used as plates or as collage materials,^[5] she works in stages.^[21] Following an initial idea or primo pensiero, Farish makes plates from found objects, such as recycled cardboard or pieces of discarded steel, which is then marked or manipulated.^[21] She prints on Arches paper and works intuitively, often layering and mounting printed handmade paper, washi, as one-of-a-kind works of art.^[22] Her method of working allows her to develop "variations inside a compositional frame" for each series: Salisbury Plain (1993–1994), Primo pensiero (1995–1997), Dépaysement (2000–2001), Persimmon Prints (2002), Esquisse païenne (2004) et Territoires intimes (2006), Piano Roll Project (2009-2011).^[23] Likened to maps, topographies and aerial views,^[24] her prints "parallel the processes of continuous change and transformation we see in our environment".^[25] In the journal Vie des arts Bernard Levy describes her work as autobiographical and an exploration of space and time: "The space filled with familiar objects, streets, countryside, a wall, the roof of a house... the time imposed by History".^[26]

Recognition

Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2008, Farish is recognized for "her own unique visual lexicon" and experimental technique.^[27] In Art New England, Craig Stockwell wrote: Farish's process is "spontaneous and intuitive: things are torn, tried, painted, added, subtracted, but the surfaces of the works are seamless."^[28] For Elissa Barnard of The Halifax Chronicle Herald: "The rust and pale gold works, artfully composed in scrawling lines, letter-shapes and splotches, are like ancient maps one keeps exploring".^[29] Art critic Robert Enright described within her work "restrained tonal reductions of artists like Robert Motherwell and Joseph Beuys".^[30] Vie des arts reviewer André Seleanu noted Zen-like "qualities that seem diametrically opposed: an intense emotion rendered by warm colors (ochres, carmines, red brick and blood) coexist with a tranquility created by flat areas of white and gray."^[13] Dorota Kozinska reviewed her work as: "Elegant, abstract works on paper... converse in a quiet language of mixed media," to conclude: "A highly intuitive artist, Farish allows the image to form itself, a tiny gesture at a time, one small step after another, only to finish it with the audacity and assurance of a master printer."^[27]

Described in Quebec Culture magazine as "one of Québec's most innovative contemporary printmakers",^[3] Farish is "known for having perfected many collograph techniques including carborundum, acrylic textured mediums, and for using nontraditional surfaces and found objects."^[31] Early in her career, Farish worked with François-Xavier Marange at Atelier Circulaire on experimental processes such as drawing on Chine-collé,^[5][32] as well as collage with printed, torn, or crumbled traditional handmade paper or washi.^[28] In 2008 she was elected to and exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.^[33][18] In 2010 she became a resident fellow at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland,^[34] and was a 2014 artist-in-resident at St. Michael's Printshop in St. John's, Newfoundland.^[35] In 2013, under Québec's Integration of Art and Architecture Program, she was awarded commissions for two public-work installations, including one at Cégep de Sherbrooke.^[36][37] An educator, Farish taught printmaking and drawing at the National Theatre School of Canada (1995-2011) in Montreal, and at the Great River Arts Institute in Walpole, Vermont.^[4] In 2013 she curated an exhibition of prints by François-Xavier Marange at Atelier Circulaire.^[37] In 2017 she was an instructor at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland.^[31]

References

External links

• "Catherine Farish Blue" Galerie Simon Blais. Video.
• "Many Moons" Cynthia Reeves. Video.

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