All Dressed Up Painting

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Catherine Gutsche earned her Bachelor of Fine Art degree at York University, 1980. She creates intricate abstracted compositions on paper, wood panels and canvas alluding to forms in nature, ambient sound, and light – driven by a need to engage the mind. Freed from representational limits, but with a thorough technical understanding of media, her interest is in colour, line, rhythm and texture. She worked with acrylic paints for over two decades. In recent years she has delved into combining oil with cold wax to play with luscious texture. Regardless of scale, the momentum of her body informs the outcome. She uses a variety of tools in the studio, including brushes, palette knives, skewer sticks, tree branches, and objects like metal spikes to gouge the surface she is working on. The unpredictability of her practice shapes the final product in surprising ways. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, USA & France and is held in private collections in Canada, Australia, England, France, and USA. Catherine has been accepted as an artist in residence at Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto, ON; Pouch Cove Foundation Artist Residency Program, NFLD and was awarded a Denis Diderot Grant to attend the Chateau d’Orquevaux International Artists and Writers Residency in France. In 2013, four paintings by Catherine were purchased for the permanent collection at the Ottawa Public Library – Carp. In 2025, “The Colour of Conversation” was added to the permanent collection of the Diderot Gallery held by the the Chateau d’Orquevaux in France. Catherine Gutsche currently works from her studio in Ottawa, Canada.