Sumter County
Catherine states that her "Art is drawing and paintings of the homes I've lived in from the first one I can remember to the one I'm in now. I have so many memories of each house, I just start to think of all the times I spent in each...I usually go to my quiet place in my home, usually late at night or on weekends, then I start to think of memories and I start to draw that house, then its off to the races until I finish painting it."
When Catherine begins work on a painting she says she feels the stresses from life disappear. "I can look at my work and I can see how my life in the Black Belt changed with each move I made with and without my family and how I continued to prosper with each move."
Catherine seems to be cleaning up the environment while searching for material as she uses recliamed wood from old houses, left over material from construction sites, curb side rubbish and broken furniture. She works on several pieces of various sizes at the same time which can take three to four days for completion.
After working at the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Alabama for nine years, she took an art class with Black Belt artist Garland Farwell. As Catherine said, “he took me under his wing (and) brought me to where I am today.”