Catherine Headley
Artist Statement
My inspiration comes from my visits to Penwith in Cornwall, a magical land encircled by seas. It is littered with the detritus of long ago, from Bronze Age cromlechs and Celtic crosses to the ruined engine houses of its abandoned tin mines.
The moors are a pagan world of standing stones and sweeps of bracken crowned by granite cairns and above the cliffs, a prehistoric landscape of small, misshapen fields, cattle pastures held fast since the Iron Age in a web of granite hedgebanks.
My colours, intensified by the dazzling Atlantic light, are the gorse and the heather, sea and sky, the strident greens and yellows and orange-gold of lichens on granite and a multitude of greys.
My imagery comes from the stones. I am excited whenever I come across a menhir or quoit, stone circle, barrow or carn. Most recently I have visited a fogou, in the courtyard house settlement of Carn Euny. The fogou, constructed around 500 BC, is invisible from above ground. A low stone lined passage leads to a remarkable circular corbelled room, more than two metres high and four metres across.
My paintings are recreations of these memories.
Biography
1948
Born in Leicester
1973-74
Somerset College of Art
1974-77
Bath Academy of Art, Corsham
BA Hons, Fine Art: Painting
Principle tutor Adrian Heath
1977-78
Post Graduate Art Teachers’ Certificate, Brighton University
Member of Leicester Print Workshop
Associate member of Penwith Society of Artists, St Ives
Artist in Residence in Stamford Arts Centre Lincolnshire since 1992
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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013
Sock Gallery, Loughborough Town hall
2006
Nigel Gibson Interiors, Stamford. Lincolnshire
1998
Lady Lodge Arts Centre, Peterborough, Cambs
1992
Stamford Arts Centre, Stamford, Lincolnshire
1990
Longthorpe Tower, Peterborough, Cambs
1981
Brighton College of Art Grand Parade Brighton
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford Derbyshire
Number Four Gallery, St Abbs, Berwickshire
Light Box Gallery, Showcase Exhibition LCB Depot, Leicester
Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
Collagraph print, ‘Earth Mysteries’ chosen for Encyclopaedia of Printmaking,
Quarto Publishing
2017 – 2007
Leicester Society of Artists, Annual Exhibition
2017
Open 28, Leicester Museaum & Art Gallery LCB Award
Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Yorkshire, ‘Paint into Print’
Kunsthuis Gallery, Crayke, Yorkshire 27 Jan – 2 April
‘Revealed-Abstract Printmakers Collective
Robert Fogell Gallery, Stamford
Cank Street Gallery, Leicester
Stour Gallery, Shipston on Stour
Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
2016
Belgrave St Ives Prints and Drawings
Leicester Society of Artists Prizewinner
Cank street Gallery, Leicester
Affordable Art Fair, Bristol with – Cank Street Gallery Leicester
Penwith Society Spring and Summer Exhibitions
Rob Fogell Gallery, Stamford Lincs. 10th anniversary Summer Exhibition
International Small Print Exhibition, curated by Leicester Print Workshop
Open 27 Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, New Walk, Leicester
– Shortlisted for the Attenborough Prize
Stour Gallery ‘Making a Mark’ Spring Exhibition
2015
Penwith Society Associates Winter and Summer Exhibitions
Stour gallery, Summer Show
Robert Fogell Gallery, Summer Landscapes
2014
Penwith Society, Associates Summer and Winter Exhibition<, St Ives
Stour Gallery, ‘Cornish Exhibition’, Shipston on Stour
Made in Leicester SELECT – Directory reperesenting best of Leicestershire
and Rutland art work
Hunters Interiors, Stamford
Rutland Open
Leicester Open 25
Wistow Gallery
White Street Gallery, Kibworth
2013
Robert Fogell Gallery, Stamford, Christmas Exhibition
Stour Gallery, Shipston on Stour. Autumn Exhibition
‘Attic Artists’ Exhibition of the Four Artists in Residence in
Stamford Arts Centre
Studio Eleven Gallery, Hull. ‘Edited Highlights’ in collaboration with Leicester Print Workshop
Collagraph ‘Shiva’s Shrine’ chosen for front cover of Irish poet,
Jim Maguire’s book of poetry ‘Music Field’
2012
Stour Gallery, Shipton on Stour, Warwickshire
Midlands Print Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire
2011
Summer Show Stoneman Gallery Penzance Cornwall
Collagraph ‘Summer Solstice’ chosen for front cover of Glen Cavalerios’s new book of poetry ‘Towards the Waiting Sun’
2014-2004
Leicester City Open
2010, 08, 07
Small Print Big Impression International Submission
Touring UK Curated by Leicester Print Workshop
2010-07
Passion 2 Print Leicester Print Workshop Printmakers Leicester City Gallery
Print Show Bircham Gallery Holt Norfolk
Summer Exhibition Bircham Gallery Holt Norfolk
Summer Show Robert Fogell Gallery Stamford Lincolnshire
Winter Show Stoneman Gallery Penzance Cornwall
2009
December Show Belgrave Gallery St Ives Cornwall
Winter Show Stoneman Gallery Penzance
Summer Exhibition Bircham Gallery
With Woodbine Contemporary Arts Uppingham Rutland:
Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam,
Affordable Art Fair Battersea London
Edinburgh Art Fair
2008
Originals 08 Print Show Mall Galleries London
Affordable Art Fair Battersea Woodbine Gallery
New Artists Bircham Gallery Holt Norfolk
2007
December Show Belgrave Gallery St Ives Cornwall
Great Atlantic Gallery, St Just, Cornwall
Cambridge Contemporary Arts:
Secret Love Print Show
Art is Abstract
Christmas Show
Postcard from St Ives Belgrave Gallery St Ives Cornwall