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About Catherine Anderson:
Catherine was born in Japan and grew up in the USA. She has always had a deep love for animals, particularly horses, which is reflected in her artworks. After emigrating to Australia in 1980, she competed in rodeos in Adelaide, where she was drawn to capture the vitality and power of animals in motion through sculpture. Her first pieces were commissioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to commemorate its 40th anniversary.
Since then, Catherine’s work has featured in a number of exhibitions and private collections, and her work has gained recognition through awards and commissions.
In 2002 she was commissioned by the Boonah Shire Council (now Scenic Rim Regional Council) to create a near-lifesize bronze sculpture With an Eye on the Sky as a public artwork to commemorate the Year of the Outback.
The Council also awarded Catherine the Australia Day Award for Cultural Achievement in 2004 in recognition of the creative excellence of her arts practice and its contribution to the community.
In 2003, she created a bronze relief plaque for the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, which marks the entrance to the Binna Burra section of Lamington National Park.
In 2004, she created a relief to celebrate and encompass the spirit of regional ambulance services (commissioned by Queensland Emergency Services) entitled Caring Through the Ages.
Her entry to the Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast in 2004 featuring five swooping terns was purchased by a patron and is now in the permanent collection of the Tweed River Art Gallery at Murwillumbah, a gift dedicated to the memory of Donald Clayton Vernon.
In 2011, Catherine was commissioned to create an artwork comprised of bronze and local sandstone to commemorate the historical association of the RAAF with the land on which the new Wyaralong Dam is built. Her creation, a bronze wedgetailed eagle relief mounted on a rugged boulder with a bronze Wirraway pilot trainer airplane, now faces Mt Joyce across the sparkling water.
In 2016 Catherine was commissioned by the Australian Navy's Far East Strategic Reserve to create a two metre high sculpture of an Australian navy sailor to be sited at Southbank Parklands in Brisbane. Sited at Memorial Park on a sandstone plinth bearing five bronze plaques commemorating the ships and battles in which the FESR served their country, the artwork is the first of its kind dedicated to the navy in Queensland.
In 2017 Catherine completed a lifesized sculpture of a working cattle dog depicted in typical focused stance for the township of Bonalbo in New South Wales. Bonalbo was the site of the first-ever working cattle dog competition, and the artwork commemorates this history and the ongoing partnership of people on the land and their four-legged workmates.
Her aim is to capture the essence of a natural form, and she is most often inspired by subjects that combine grace and elegance with strength and resilience.
She is passionate about attaining accuracy in form and gesture and this devotion to detail saw her riding the cowboys’ practice bucking machine to ensure that her bronze figure was balanced correctly. One of her favourite achievements was when her bronze image of a German Shorthaired Pointer was deemed a top dog by the judge at the National Dog Show. Strictly a hands-on artist, Catherine bends the steel for her combined stainless works and places the bronze elements on the design.
She uses the traditional lost-wax method of bronze casting her limited edition sculptures, personally finishing each piece, chasing and patinising each piece by hand in her studio, situated in Boonah’s Old Butter Factory.
Catherine is a regular participant in the Open Studios program, when she welcomes visitors to her busy studio.
Catherine’s work is currently on display at:
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The Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW
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Montville Art Gallery, Montville Qld
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Art and Soul Gallery, Boonah, Qld
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CWM Gallery, Woolahra, The Rocks, Sydney
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and has its own facebook page: Catherine Anderson Sculpture.
Qualifications
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Double Associate Degree in Science and Business – Solano College, Fairfield California
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Philosophy- University of California, Berkeley, California USA
Exhibitions
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Swell Sculpture Festival, Currumbin 2005 and 2006 –invitation only
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Linden Gallery, Gold Coast-joint exhibition with Harold Lane
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Boonah Regional Art Gallery-Quintessence (four artist exhibition)
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Rotary International Art Show-invitation only
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Old Courthouse Gallery-inaugural Just Nudes Exhibition 2005
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Old Courthouse Gallery Just Nudes Exhibition 2006
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Boonah Regional Art Gallery Factory Girls (four artist exhibition)
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Scenic Rim Regional Council Sculpture Symposium 2008
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Finalist, Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards, 2015
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Finalist, Royal Queensland Art Exhibition 2016
Awards
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Australia Day Cultural Award-2004
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Community Event of the Year- 2001 and 2002
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Winner, sculpture section, Just Nudes Exhibition- 2005 and 2006
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Finalist, Lexus Mortimore Art Prize 2007
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