Catherine Farish
Born1951 (age 72–73)
London, England
NationalityCanadian
Known forPrintmaker
AwardsGrand Prize, Loto-Quebec (1992)
ElectedRoyal Canadian Academy of Arts (2008)
WebsiteArtist website

Catherine Farish RCA (born 1951) is a Canadian artist known for experimental, contemporary printmaking. Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2008,[1] her large-format work unites "the discipline of engraving, free use of the plastic arts and the expressive force of lyric abstraction."[2] Described as "one of Quebec's most innovative contemporary printmakers",[3] she was awarded the 1992 Grand Prize, Loto-Quebec (1992), Montreal Acquisition Award (1992), and Boston Printmakers' Material Award (1997).[4] Her work is found in the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec,[5] Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and the Canada Council for the Arts Art Bank.[4]

Education and Career

Catherine Farish was born in 1951 in London, England.[6] Her father was British-Canadian, her mother Italian, and her family resettled in Montreal, Canada, during the mid-1950s.[7] 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.[7] A founding member of the Montreal print collective Atelier Circulaire,[8] 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.[9][4] In 1994 Farish's first abstract exhibition, Salisbury Plain at Galerie Simon Blais (Montreal), drew positive reviews in Voir, and Parcours Arts Visuels.[10][11] Solo shows followed at Open Studio (Toronto), Galeriwan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia),[12] Hope Corman Gallery (Victoria BC), Autre Équivoque (Ottawa ON),[6] and at Cynthia Reeves' Spheris Gallery (Walpole NH).[12] By 1997 Farish had replaced the central subject with multiple elements in the series Primo pensiero exhibited at Galerie Simon Blais.[6] 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,[13] and at Galerie Echancrure in Brussels, Belgium.[14]

Following an art residency at Asilah, Morocco, Farish adopted a North African palette of vermillion and orange.[12][15] This new work was exhibited in 2001 as Dépaysment at Galerie Simon Blais,[16] and the following year as Persimmon Prints at Spheris Gallery in New York City and Walpole, New Hampshire.[13] 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.[8][15] 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.[17][18] That year Farish's series of circular compositions Many Moons was exhibited at Cynthia-Reeves' New Hampshire gallery and at 2016 Pulse New York.[19][20] 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][21] In 2016 Farish lived and worked near Montreal, Quebec.[21]

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."[11] Created through multiple runs with found objects used as plates or as collage materials,[6] she works in stages.[22] 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.[22] She prints on Arches paper and works intuitively, often layering and mounting printed handmade paper, washi, as one-of-a-kind works of art.[23] 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).[24] Likened to maps, topographies and aerial views,[25] her prints "parallel the processes of continuous change and transformation we see in our environment".[26] 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".[27]

Recognition

Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2008, Farish is recognized for "her own unique visual lexicon" and experimental technique.[28] 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."[29] 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".[30] Art critic Robert Enright described within her work "restrained tonal reductions of artists like Robert Motherwell and Joseph Beuys".[31] 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."[15] 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."[28]

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."[32] Early in her career, Farish worked with François-Xavier Marange at Atelier Circulaire on experimental processes such as drawing on Chine-collé,[6][33] as well as collage with printed, torn, or crumbled traditional handmade paper or washi.[29] In 2008 she was elected to and exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[34][19] In 2010 she became a resident fellow at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland,[35] and was a 2014 artist-in-resident at St. Michael's Printshop in St. John's, Newfoundland.[36] 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.[37][38] 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.[38] In 2017 she was an instructor at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland.[32]

References

  1. ↑ "List of members." Royal Canadian Academy for the Arts. Web. Archived 2013-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Baillargeon, Christiane. "Catherine Farish: Reminiscences: A cartography of intimate spaces." Catherine Farish: Territoires intime. 2006. p.7. Web. p.5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Catherine Farish." Quebec Culture. May-Aug. 2017. p.20. Web. p.12
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Lévy, Bernard. "Catherine Farish: Les blessures du temps-Notes biographiques." Vie des arts, vol.48:190. Spring 2003. p.47. Web. p.3
  5. ↑ "Catherine Farish". www.collections.mnbaq.org. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Paquet, Bernard. "Catherine Farish." Vie des Arts, vol. 40:166, Spring 1997. p.71. Web. p.3.
  7. 1 2 Roberge, Gaston, and Madeleine Partous. "Bio." Catherine Farish: Primo pensiero. 1997. pp.13-14. Print.
  8. 1 2 Lévy, Bernard, André Seleanu and Florentina Lungu. "Les 25 ans de l'atelier circulaire." Vie des arts, vol.51:209. Winter 2007-8. p.27. Web. p.2.
  9. ↑ Jobin, Michel. "Catherine Farish et Julie Boissonneault décrochent le premier prix de la collection Loto-Québec." Les Nouvelles. 21 Apr. 1992. p.6. Print.
  10. ↑ Aquin, Stéphane. "Catherine Farish, Figure de style." Voir. 21-27 Apr. 1994. p.25. Print.
  11. 1 2 Recurt, Elisabeth. "Catherine Farish, Entre matérialité et immatérialité." Parcours arts visuels. May 1994. p.54. Print.
  12. 1 2 3 "Catherine Farish Bio." Cynthia-Reeves. Web.
  13. 1 2 "Catherine Farish: The Persimmon Prints." Spheris Gallery. 2002. Print. p.1. Web. p.2.
  14. ↑ "Trois femmes artistes et leurs oeuvres sur papier à Tournai et à Bruxelles." Quebec Ministry of Culture. Mar.-Apr. 1998. Print.
  15. 1 2 3 Seleanu, André. "Catherine Farish: Transitions." Vie des arts, vol.51:209. Winter 2007-8. p.31. Web. p.6.
  16. ↑ Lévy, Bernard. "Catherine Farish: Les blessures du temps." Vie des arts, vol.48:190. Spring 2003. pp.46-50. Web. pp.1-6.
  17. ↑ Enright, Robert. "Legend-Maker Catherine Farish and the Piano Roll Project." Catherine Farish Notes. 2011. pp.11-13. Web. pp.6-7.
  18. ↑ "Catherine Farish Blue." Galerie Simon Blais. 2015. Web.
  19. 1 2 "Catherine Farish." Cynthia-Reeves. Exhibition catalogue 2015. Web.
  20. ↑ "Pulse 2016." artsy.net. Web.
  21. 1 2 Burnett, Henny. "Visiting Catherine Farish's Studio." Blog, 22 Oct. 2016. Web.
  22. 1 2 Roberge, Gaston, and Madeleine Partous. Catherine Farish: Primo pensiero. 1997. p.8. Print.
  23. ↑ Catherine Farish: The Persimmon Prints. Spheris Gallery. 2002. Inside front cover. Web. p.2
  24. ↑ Enright, Robert. "Legend-Maker Catherine Farish and the Piano Roll Project." p.11. Web. p.6.
  25. ↑ Lévy, Bernard. "Catherine Farish: Les blessures du temps." p.46. Web. p.2.
  26. ↑ Grande, John K. "Volte-face". Plein-Sud. 1996. Print. Web.
  27. ↑ Lévy, Bernard. "Catherine Farish: Les blessures du temps." p.50. Web. p.6
  28. 1 2 Kozinska, Dorota. "Catherine Farish: New Paper Works." Vie des arts, vol. 50:202. Spring 2006. p.72. Web. p.4.
  29. 1 2 Stockwell, Craig. "Reviews: New Hampshire - Catherine Farish." Art New England. Oct.-Nov. 2007. p.5. Print.
  30. ↑ Barnard, Elissa. "At the Galleries." The Halifax Chronicle Herald. 2 Mar. 2003. p.B2. Print.
  31. ↑ Enright, Robert. "Legend-Maker Catherine Farish and the Piano Roll Project." p.13. Web. p.7.
  32. 1 2 "Catherine Farish." Ballinglen workshops. Web.
  33. ↑ Roberge, Gaston, and Madeleine Partous. "Primo pensiero." p.13. Print.
  34. ↑ "Hibernus Description." Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Web.
  35. ↑ Farish, Catherine. "RCA Member Travelogue." RCA News. Spring 2011. Web.
  36. ↑ "Visiting Artist Program." St. Michael's Printshop. Web.
  37. ↑ "Faculty: Catherine Farish." Two Rivers Printmaking Studio. Web.
  38. 1 2 "Artist: Catherine Farish." Galerie Simon Blais. Web.
  • "Catherine Farish Blue" Galerie Simon Blais. Video.
  • "Many Moons" Cynthia Reeves. Video.
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