Catherine Reed (Bouteloua)

My goal is to perceive the natural world in a more personal and intimate way by making art works based on plants, animals and ecological processes and my responses to them. In art work I hope to escape the constraints, impersonality and reductionism that I have experienced in scientific work with these organisms and processes, while maintaining the intense focus that is required for both artistic and scientific expression. The naughty urge to fool mother nature also motivates my art and science work. I am constantly exploring the balance between pattern and randomness in the natural world and in art.

The flexibility, color, solidity and texture of fabric applique attract me to this medium, and the use of commercial fabrics gives some insight into other people’s perceptions of and attitudes toward the natural world, especially their attitudes regarding flowers and insects. I am gradually moving away from realism as I seek more intuitive work.

My site, Harriet Alexander Nature Center in Roseville is a wetland in the midst of suburbia. Small aquatic organisms live out their lives there oblivious to human attention. Human influence continues to increase despite the "protected" status of this area, but for now humans, plants and animals find it a refuge from the surrounding development.

Catherine Reed (Bouteloua)'s work

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