Cathie Joy Young www.cathiejoyyoung.com Statement

I am a painter living and working in Portland, Oregon. My work is figurative with an abstract sensibility. It is process oriented but not for the sake of process, rather this is how I get to the imagery. I work in acrylic on wood panels and also acrylic and ballpoint pen. By holding true to all the formal aspects of composition and the visual logic within each piece I eventually realize a story via imagery. These stories don’t feel like they are mine. They are like borrowed memories remembered. For this reason I have never felt like I can take full credit for what I end up with, so I am always very grateful for the loan.
Painting is my one and only favorite mystery.
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BIO

I was born and raised in the USA and UK and am a dual national. My father was in the US Air force so we moved around a lot. He was an artist and so is my brother. Both parents were very encouraging of us to draw and paint when we were children. I moved to Portland as a young adult in order to attend the Pacific NW College of Art and graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in fine art in painting. Upon graduation I worked various jobs including scenic and set painting for film, theater, commercials etc. for a staging company called StageRight. I was later hired as a mural painter by the McMenamins Company in 1997 where I did many on-site murals and art work for their various hotel, pub, and theater properties.
In 2005 I began working solely on my own paintings and exhibiting and selling my work in galleries through-out the US and selling work internationally online.

Cathie Joy Young
3553 NE Holman
Portland, OR. USA