Cat Crotchett
Biography
Cat Crotchett has been a professional artist for over 30 years and is known for her original paintings focusing on abstract patterns. Cat earned BFAs in Painting and Art History from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MFA in Art from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. Cat has been a regular presenter and instructor at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and has taught painting workshops in the United States and in Indonesia. She has an extensive exhibition record that includes solo exhibitions at Vanderbilt University, the University of Illinois Chicago, the Maryland Institute of Art and Barbaran Segaragunung Gallery in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. In addition, she has a considerable record of international and national group exhibitions, has been recognized through various grants, and has been a fellow at several artist colonies – including a 2022 Golden Foundation for the Arts experimental residency. Her work is represented in numerous private and public collections. She was the 2021 Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Western Michigan University, and 2015 College of Fine Arts Roehrick Distinguished Professor also at WMU. She teaches painting in the Gwen Frostic School of Art. Cat lives and works in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She is represented by Addington Gallery in Chicago, IL.
Artist Statement
Cat Crotchett’s work explores the themes of identity and memory through the lens of natural forms, reflecting the intricate relationship between the individual and the world we inhabit. Using encaustic paint, she creates layered surfaces that evoke the textures and complexities of the natural world. The medium’s tactile nature, combined with its permanence and fragility, evokes the way memories shape our identities—constantly shifting, yet anchored in time. She builds, carves and reworks shapes, engaging in a process that begins with strategy but evolves into something more intuitive and fluid as the work unfolds. This interplay between intention and spontaneity mirrors the evolving nature of memory itself—layered, changing, and deeply personal.