Catherine Farish

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]

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]

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]

• "Catherine Farish Blue" Galerie Simon Blais. Video.
• "Many Moons" Cynthia Reeves. Video.