I hope that each artwork I create invites you to reconnect with your own senses - to notice more, feel more, and remember what lights you up.
Hello, and thanks for coming over to find out more about me and my artwork. I’m Cath Duncan - a mixed media visual artist living in Utrecht in the Netherlands.
I'm intrigued by the human capacity to remain connected to sensory delight, belonging, and hope in the face of grief and fear.
My paintings and creative processes are deeply influenced by my first career as a grief support therapist and my own life experiences with grief, disability, and chronic illness. Inspired by the things in life that bring me wonder, delight, awe, and hope, I love to explore - and create - these inner landscapes of resilience through my art.
Nature is both my creative muse and my sanctuary
In nature I find the textures, colours, and shapes that inspire my artworks, and offer me the sustaining metaphors and feelings of connectedness and vitality that help me to live well with my own fears and grief.
My work is expressive; trying to capture the sensory experiences of natural landscapes and the emotional experiences of our inner landscapes.
I work across various mediums to create artworks that are as rich and layered as the sensory moments and emotional experiences they’re born from. Because I want my process of making to feel as immersive and meaningful as the experiences that spark the work.
I love the idea that a painting can act as a portal - evoking the memory of a moment that felt expansive or grounding, and bringing that feeling back into your home and life.
Exhibitions
I’ve shown my art in exhibitions in South Africa, the UK, and the Netherlands, and sold my paintings to private collectors in South Africa, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK, and the USA. Originally from South Africa, I create (and ship!) my art from my home studio in Utrecht in the Netherlands.
You can find details of current exhibitions here.
“I look at your works hanging in my rooms every day and can almost hear the movement of the waves crashing on the beach. They occupy pride of place.”
— Dr Trevor Gerntholtz, South Africa
Art and therapy
Over the years I’ve developed as an artist through selected private courses and mentorships, including programs through Newlyn School of Art (UK), The Peter Clarke Art Centre (South Africa), David Mankin (UK), Nicholas Wilton (USA), and Alice Sheridan (UK).
My art practice is also strengthened by my first career in Grief Support Therapy. I have a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work (University of Calgary, Canada) and, until 2020, I worked in grief support, co-founded the Creative Grief Studio with Kara Jones, and authored two grief support workbooks.
In addition to my professional training and experience, my work has always drawn on my own experiences of learning to live wholeheartedly after - and also with - great loss. Some of the loss and grief experiences that shaped my therapeutic work and continue to influence my art-making include vision impairment, hearing impairment, living with 2 rare incurable illnesses, and pregnancy loss. I’m also a kidney transplant recipient, immigrant, and transracial adoptive parent… experiences filled with joys that I’m very grateful for, and which also include layers of grief for our family.
I’m often asked how my visual impairment affects my art-making, so I’ve written a little about that here.
“Your art reminds me of possibilities, more beach beyond the bluff, the feel of the wind in my hair, the feel of the salt air on my face, the grounded feeling I have every time my feet are on the sand and in the sea.”
Interested in owning some of my art?
I’d love to help you choose art that resonates with your own stories and hopes, and that you’ll love having in your life.
If you’re in the Netherlands and would like to visit me at my studio, I’d be happy to make an appointment to do that. Just email me at cath@cathduncan.com or message me on Whatsapp: +31 6 27 97 73 66. I’m also very happy to hop on a video call with folks who live further afar.
You can also have a look at my latest artworks and other earlier artwork collections, find out how to commission a meaningful custom artwork, or order fine art prints .
