Catherine Hess, originally from upstate New York, lived for ten years in the Boston area before moving to Washington in 1987. She now lives in Old Town Alexandria. While achieving a successful full time career in state health policy, she has pursued her avocation for art throughout her life.

Catherine began showing and selling work in the late 1990s. Through acceptance in three juried shows annually, she is now a member of the Art League’s “bin gallery”. She also has exhibited her work at other juried and open shows in the greater Washington area as well as Cape Cod.

Catherine’s art education consists of undergraduate courses and also classes and workshops in Rochester, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; and the Washington area. The latter have included those offered by the Corcoran School of Art, the Washington Studio School, and most extensively, the Art League. She has painted in New Mexico, the Bahamas, Peru, Guatemala, France, Greece, Switzerland, and Bali.

After spending portions of summers on outer Cape Cod for the past 40 years, Catherine recently bought a second home in Wellfleet. The home includes the studio of Edwin Dickinson, an important painter and influential art teacher.

Now retired from full time health policy work, Catherine plans to spend more time on the Cape, and more time painting and being active in the arts communities there as well as in the Washington area. She is a member of the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill as well as the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.