GALLERY

CATHERINE WILLIAMS

Catherine Williams was born in Bristol in 1975. She studied Fine Art at the University of the West of England, graduating in 1997 she has since completed an MA in multidisciplinary printmaking.

The inspiration for Catherine's work comes from the textural qualities she sees in landscapes, particularly those in the Cornish coastline. It is the effect that the sea has on the landscape, the erosive strength that it holds but also the special colour and light of the sea and sky that Cornwall is noted for that Catherine is especially interested in depicting.

Catherine's prints are usually made by the etching process or the carborundum process. Etching involves scratching into a metal plate often made of copper, done deeply this creates a more textural surface than the fine line that is normally associated with etching as the acid that the plate is then immersed in is more able to eat away at the metal. She combines this technique with that of aquatint which creates more subtle tones and a finer texture. About 3 or 4 plates are treated in this way each with different images and colour on them which are all printed on top of each other on paper.

Carborundum on the other hand uses the aluminium plate to build upon rather than build into. Acrylic paste and carborundum grit is applied to the plate which builds up a very densely and defined image. This is then inked up, put through the printing press, which exerts a great deal of pressure onto the paper underneath it to create both a colourful and embossed final image. "Calm" and the new series of Tide prints are examples of this process.

A very talented young artist, Catherine has been awarded The Rebecca Smith Prize for Printmaking and the Printmakers Council Award and now exhibits widely around the UK.