art
Life Work Catherine “Catchi” Childs, River Arts
N
onagenarian Catherine “Catchi” Childs isn’t an elderly folk artist à la Grandma Moses. She’s an accomplished figurative painter with a sophisticated aesthetic, complex palette and confident, expressive brushwork. River Arts in Morrisville is currently hosting a retrospective of 36 portraits, still lifes and a few landscapes by the artist. Formerly from Long Island, she now lives in Morrisville, but during her long career Catchi’s paintings have been exhibited from England to Japan, and points in between. These aren’t unassuming little paintings. “Valley of the Arni,” the largest piece in the show at 54 by 72 inches, is a sun-drenched mountain vista in golden yellows and bands of pale green. The composition is monumental. Diagonals folded into each other aim at a low focal point. The sfumato of aerial perspective renders the most distant chain of mountains pale, introducing light blue and pink planes to the faraway peaks. Catchi is a past president of the New York City-based National Association of Women Artists. She studied with figurative artist Leon Kroll and briefly with abstractionist Hans Hofmann. But older art-historical references have also been important in her work. Reminiscent of Matisse, Catchi’s “Fish Bowl” beautifully presents two goldfish in a round bowl on a small table that is draped in a flowered cloth. Her hues are nearly as vibrant as that earlier artist’s; mauve and reds appear in the background and,
in the foreground, yellow floral patterns appear within opulent passages of blue. “Aerialist” hints at Catchi’s extensive study of figure drawing in her early years. Her solid figures recall those of Cezanne. The aerialist is divided into planes of muscle, light and shadow. Catchi wastes no time on details (the left side of the figure’s face is undefined); her interest is focused on weight, form and gesture. The painting is rendered in earth tones, with figure and background composed of similar hues — except for a single patch of Prussian blue over the
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10.19.11-10.26.11
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ONGOING burlington area
'ART FOR OCTOBER': Work by members of the Northern Vermont Artist Association. Through October 31 at Art's Alive Gallery in Burlington. Info, 660-9005. 'ART HOP ORIGINAL JURIED SHOW WINNERS EXHIBIT': Work by Violeta Hinojosa, Justin Hoekstra, David Woolf, Jesse Azarian, Joelen Mulvaney and Lorraine Reynolds. Through October 28 at SEABA Center in Burlington. Info, 859-9222.
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'ART AT THE COACH BARN': Work by more than 40 artists in a spectacular lakeside setting. Through October 23 at Shelburne Farms. Info, 985-8686. BETH PEARSON: Abstract paintings by the Vermont artist. Through October 25 at Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne. Info, 985-3848.
subject, and deep, dark space beyond the foreground. Whether Catchi consciously adopted Duchamp’s composition hardly matters. The point is, she fully assimilated 20th-century modernism, and abstraction is the basis of many of her still lifes. In her early thirties, during a Hofmann class, Catchi fainted and was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She was bedridden for a year. But Catchi continued to draw during her convalescence, and, according to her website, considered
CATCHI IS AN ACCOMPLISHED FIGURATIVE PAINTER “Fish Bowl”
WITH A SOPHISTICATED AESTHETIC, COMPLEX PALETTE AND CONFIDENT, EXPRESSIVE BRUSHWORK. figure’s right shoulder, which deepens the space solely with color and value. The 36-by-16-inch vertical “Fall Bouquet” has a classic compositional arrangement of acute angles tumbling down the picture plane. The narrative is a floral study, with splashes of bright color cascading over the dark background. The flowers are simplified to geometric forms. The painting’s composition is nearly identical to that of Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.” Both artists constructed images with a logical arrangement of positive and negative space, using strong angles at upper right and lower left. The paintings have a similar arrangement of small and large forms within the central
herself oddly lucky. “I thought of all the things I had to have, it was very good I had tuberculosis,” she writes. “I had read about artists, and one of the main things artists had was tuberculosis, so I figured I was made. I had the proper disease if I was going to have anything.” Even without the “proper” disease, Catchi surely would have developed into a substantive artist. But an unflappable attitude toward adversity certainly couldn’t have hurt.
CAROL CRAWFORD & ELLEN SPRING: "The Fell Line," colorful garments and other woven objects by the fiber artists. Through October 31 at Frog Hollow in Burlington. Info, 863-6458.
Giant, Sharktoof and more, hung next to their 2012 Burton snowboards. By appointment only. Through October 20 at Burton Snowboards, 152 Industrial Parkway, in Burlington. Info, 862-4500.
of the gallery's 25th anniversary. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Chittenden County. Through November 30 at Luxton-Jones Gallery in Shelburne. Info, 985-8223.
CHRIS NEUHARDT & ELLEN GOODRICH: Watercolors and acrylics by Neuhardt; mosaic wall pieces by her sister, Goodrich. Through October 31 at Fletcher Room, Fletcher Free Library, in Burlington. Info, 865-7211.
'FALL: SOMETHING MUST BE DRAWN ABOUT IT': Drawings by Ida Ludlow. Through November 17 at Healthy Living in South Burlington. Info, 863-2569.
JEN KRISTEL: "Landscapes and Waterscapes," monoprints inspired by all the water falling in Vermont this year. Through October 31 at Block Gallery in Winooski. Info, 373-5150.
“Aerialist”
ERIN PAUL: Images of death and rebirth. Through November 1 at VCAM Studio in Burlington. Info, 651-9692. 'EVOLUTION': Original artwork by Burton's graphic artists, including Greg Gossel, Hush, Bigfoot, Mike
VISUAL ART IN SEVEN DAYS:
GRACE COTHALIS: Vibrantly colored paintings, monoprints and collage. Through November 28 at Vintage Jewelers in Burlington. Info, 849-6051. 'IMPRESSIONS OF THE FOUR SEASONS': Paintings by Carolyn Walton, Gail Bessette, Athenia Schinto, Susan Bull Riley and Charles Townsend, plus jewelry by Tineke Russell, exhibited in celebration
ART LISTINGS AND SPOTLIGHTS ARE WRITTEN BY MEGAN JAMES. LISTINGS ARE RESTRICTED TO ART SHOWS IN TRULY PUBLIC PLACES; EXCEPTIONS MAY BE MADE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE EDITOR.
M A R C AWO D EY
Catherine “Catchi” Childs, River Arts, Morrisville. Through November 7.
JOHNNIE DAY DURAND: A solo exhibit curated by SEABA. Through November 26 at Pine Street Deli in Burlington. Info, 862-9614. JONATHAN KLINE: "Ecliptics," salt prints by the Bennington College professor. Through November 4 at Colburn Gallery in Burlington. Info, 656-2014.
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