Cat Fink, Visual Artist

Cat Fink has been an artist and storyteller all her life.  At age 37, at Victoria College of Art in Victoria, BC, Cat discovered she did things sideways.  She drew the body by drawing things the body used.  She built all-white still lifes, then drew them with every colour she had.  She told stories without words.  Luckily the teachers were kind.  Cat graduated.

Cat continues to draw from the still lifes she constructs, combining reality and imagination.  She mixes her media, using pastel, charcoal, graphite, coloured pencil, collage, and acrylic on watercolour and printer’s papers.  Cat creates the original texts that appear on her drawings.  Her inspiration grows from her life experiences, including her Tibetan Buddhist practice and multicentered heritage.

Cat shows her work in solo and group shows, winning both juror’s choice and purchase awards.  She has received education and residency awards from the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation and from the Banff Centre.  Her drawings have been published as magazine cover and illustrations.

Cat is sure that all artists are Tricksters; one of her teachers told her that willing to be a fool is the first wisdom.  She says that everything she draws, everything she writes is truth masquerading as fiction.  Intuition and Imagination are her best friends.  And she doesn’t always leave tracks.

Besides artist and storyteller, Cat’s a mom, wife, aunt, sister, daughter, friend, writer, blogger, creativity workshop teacher,  and coyote-tailed Crow Girl.  Cat lives on Vancouver Island, BC.

Photo by Rosalie Favell.  Copyright Rosalie Favell.  Used with permission.