About

Catherine Stringer

Catherine Stringer is a Tasmanian artist based in Hobart who has a lifelong love of water and the sea. She is particularly attracted to islands, being surrounded as they are by water, and she is a keen swimmer and scuba diver.

Catherine is drawn to the visual and sensual nature of water, and the feeling of weightlessness when underwater. She is also fascinated by the symbolism of water, its ability to conjure narrative and metaphor, and its connection to the mysterious vast unknown.

Catherine trained in painting and photography at the Tasmanian School of Art. Her work has been exhibited widely since 2003 in 16 solo exhibitions as well as numerous group exhibitions, both locally and further afield.

Catherine’s underwaterscapes look beneath the surface of a range of Tasmanian waters, from deep sea caves and kelp forests to mountain creeks and tarns, and have been selected three times as finalists in the Glover Prize.

Other underwater paintings contain figures; these images often become ambiguous and evocative, akin to dreamscapes or poetry.

Papermaking techniques were explored during a King Island residency in 2011, using local seaweeds and shore plants. After extensive research, developing and refining her process, Catherine was able to create unique seaweed paper artworks inspired by sea related narratives. The ‘Neva Reliquary’ series focused on one of the King Island shipwrecks, that of the ‘Neva’, whilst ‘Seal Woman’ was inspired by an Icelandic folk tale.

Further development of techniques enabled the creation 3 dimensional sculptural artworks, translucent ‘stained glass window’ inspired artworks, and even a wearable paper garment!

‘Looking beneath the surface’ and underlying themes of separation, loss and transformation continue to inform Catherine’s art practice, which now includes both painting and papermaking.

Catherine has maintained her links with King Island, and her work may be viewed at the King Island Cultural Centre.

+ Solo Exhibitions

2023 Ocean Windows, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2022 Ebb and Flow, Moonah Art Centre, Tasmania
2020 Penguin Parade, online exhibition
2019 Sea Stories, King Island Cultural Centre
2018 Seal Woman, Red Gallery, Fitzroy North, Victoria
2016 Neva Vestiges, King Island Cultural Centre
2016 Neva Reliquary, Moonah Art Centre, Tasmania
2012 Just Waving, Rosny Barn, Tas
2010 River Turns, Goulburn St Gallery, Hobart
2009 See View, Cultural Centre, King Island
2009 Face Value, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2007 Still Waters, Galerie Aqui Siam Ben, Vallauris, France
2006 Dancers and Dreamers, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2006 Testing the Water, BBoss, Hobart
2004 Salted With Fire, Walker St Gallery, Dandenong, Victoria
2004 Off Stage, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2003 Resonance, Republic Bar and Café, North Hobart
2003 Free Flow, True Blue Gallery, Hobart

+ Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 International Paper Art Biennale, Hagen, Germany
2023 Paper Alive, International IAPMA Exhibition, Dresden, germany
2023 WAMA Art Prize Finalists exhibition, Ararat, Victoria
2023 Beneath the Surface, IMAS Gallery, Hoabart
2022 Water – Papermakers of Victoria exhibition, Gasworks Arts Park, Melbourne
2022 Paper Off Skin Finalists Exhibition, RANT Gallery, Devonport, Tasmania
2022 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Sydney
2021 Poor Souls, Ten Days on the Island Festival, King Island Cultural Centre
2021 Door to Door, No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Pause Button, The Old Auction House, Kyneton, Victoria
2020 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
2019 Vitroform, Lord Coconut, Melbourne
2018 A New Era, King Island Cultural Centre
2018 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
2018 Corangamarah Art Prize Finalists Exhibition
2017 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
2017 Polar Festival, Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland
2017 Waterways, Hobart
2016 Maritime Art Awards Finalists Exhibition, Melbourne
2016 Bruny Island Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Bruny Island, Tasmania
2016 Myth and Memory, Beth Hulme Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Hutchins Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hobart
2015 Elements, Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2015 Ten Years, King Island Cultural Centre
2014 Eight Weeks in Xi’an, SNNU, Xi’an, China
2013 Hutchins Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hobart
2013 What Lies Beneath, Backyard Gallery, Ballarat
2012 Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale, Tas
2011 Fleurieu Water Prize Finalists Exhibition, Goolwa, South Australia
2011 Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale, Tas
2010 Menzies Art Exhibition, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2009 Cricket Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Sydney Cricket Ground
2008 Endangered. Drawing the Line. Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
2007 Pencil It In, The Salamanca Collection, Hobart
2007 Au Lavoir de Mougins Village, Mougins, France
2006 Arts on Whittle Ward Exhibition, Moonah Arts Centre, Tas
2006 Playing Up, Schoolhouse Gallery, Rosny, Tas
2006 Glover Prize Finalists Exhibition, Evandale, Tas

+ Residencies

2017 Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland
2012 Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
2011 King Island Cultural Centre
2008 Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
2007 AIR Vallauris, France
2005 Whittle Ward Palliative Care Unit, Hobart

+ Public Art Commissions

2020 Ogilvie High School, Hobart
2019 Big Picture School, Launceston
2010 Queenstown HUB
2006 Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit, Royal Hobart Hospital

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