Catherine Hickson

Over decades of creating and making, Catherine has moved from formal figuration to more open gestural practice. Working comfortably between figurative and abstract compositions of still life, interiors and landscape Catherine is compelled by colour, form and emotion.
"I feel my current work is a distillation of my long and ongoing interest in landscape, still life and abstraction. I am becoming less interested in representation and more compelled by the felt experience of my subjects - be it still life, landscape. My experiences filter into my art making practice. I usually begin work with small drawings and oil sketches. I really like the physical action of mark making which then translates to putting paint onto canvas. After time I move into flow where I abandon ideas, concepts and plans and simply respond to what the painting needs. »

Following study of drawing at The National Art School, traditional oil painting at the The Charlie Sheard Studio school in Sydney and Tonal Realism at Monsalvat in Melbourne, Catherine's creative practice has become multidisciplinary, open and exploratory.
Catherine grew up in the Hunter Valley. She lived and worked in New York in the 1980’s and then in Sydney for many years. She moved to Newcastle in 2023. Catherine practices yoga and loves bushwalking and ocean swimming. She is a mother, grandmother, psychotherapist, artist and arts educator.

Catherine has been exhibiting since 2005.
Her work is held in private collections in Australia, the UK and France.