Artist’s statement
Working primarily in oil on canvas, I explore the intersection of my experience of the physical world and the unknowable. My paintings typically begin with an experience in nature. Color, form, and found compositions transfix me and I enter into a highly subjective experience in which the objects that I see become more than what they are objectively. The paintings that result from these experiences express a metaphysical reality in which all is connected.
I intentionally search for and create aesthetically harmonic relationships within the paintings, allowing them to become meditations on the relationship between the minuscule and the greater cosmos, as well as humanity’s place in between. In any given painting, the colors, forms, and compositions may have been altered and stylized. My intention is not to paint naturalistically, but rather, to express the way that I experienced it.
In many of the canvases, I use a square format and balanced composition to pull the viewer in and invite them into a contemplative, inward-facing experience. I intentionally destabilize the sense of depth within the paintings so that the distinction between the micro and the macro becomes uncertain. The imagery that results from this process can fluctuate between being firm, steady ground and a portal that one might enter. Repetitive and compulsive mark-making turns moss into stars and pebbly soil into galaxies. What appears to be the sky may actually be a puddle. With their emphasis on the earth beneath our feet, the paintings ground the viewer while allowing the mind to freely travel beyond the surface.
Color is an important aspect of my work. Harmonies of rich, vibrant color balance the compositions of my paintings and pull the viewer in. Art historical associations of certain colors are important to me: for example, yellow as a representation of motion and vitality, and blue as a symbol of distance and longing. In some paintings, I use oil paint that I make from Earth pigments that I collect myself, adding an additional facet to the theme of interconnection.
Astronomy has always been a fascination of mine. Whether gazing into the night sky or looking at images taken by space telescopes, we are forced to reckon with how small our planet is, and all that we still don’t know about the cosmos despite how much we have learned through many technological advances. My paintings of galaxies, nebulas, and the world beneath our feet ask the viewer to contemplate the unknowable: the nature of existence and humanity’s place within the universe.
Drawing from the lineage of artists who saw in nature something greater than the sum of its parts – such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Eugene Jansson, and Edvard Munch – my paintings ask the viewer to spend a little longer looking and contemplating, and are an invitation to have an experience of the sublime on the scale of the everyday.
Bio
Cathy Durso is a visual artist based in Minneapolis, MN. Her paintings, drawings, and bookbinding work have been exhibited throughout the US. She is a 2020 recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Cathy grew up in northwestern Connecticut and received her BFA from the Art Institute of Boston.
CV
Solo and two-person exhibitions
2025
What sparkles beneath my feet? (solo), ECA Gallery, Easthampton, MA
2020
Cathy Durso (solo), Waseca Art Center, Waseca, MN
2018
Healing Arts – Featured Artist (solo), Hudson Hospital and Clinic, curated by Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI
Unnamed | Undefined (two-person), Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, Fridley, MN
Featured Artist (two-person), Hennepin County Health Services Building, Minneapolis, MN
Healing Arts – Featured Artist (solo), Westfields Hospital and Clinic, curated by Phipps Center for the Arts, New Richmond, WI
2017
Satellite (solo), MacRostie Art Center, Grand Rapids, MN
Orbital Resonance (solo), AIM Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2013
Menagerie (solo), Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, MA
Selected group exhibitions
2026
Everyday Sublime, Gallery A3, Amherst, MA
LandEscape, ArtWorks Gallery, Ware, MA
Revelry at 33, Northampton Art Center, Northampton, MA
2025
Locals No. 2, Pulp Gallery, Holyoke, MA
Layers, Indian Orchard Mills Dane Gallery, Springfield, MA
2024
Bloom, Albany Center Gallery, Albany, NY
2023
Viewpoint, Becket Art Center, Becket, MA
Bound/Unbound: Artists’ Books from the Special Collections, Pierre Bottineau Library, Minneapolis, MN
2022
Motherhood, Gateway City Arts Small Works Gallery, Holyoke, MA
Here + Now (juror: Francine Weiss), Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
2021
Holiday Small Works Sale, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Is This A Book?!, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN (traveled to Walker Library, Minneapolis, MN)
Pigments Revealed Symposium Exhibition, wildpigmentproject.org
2019
Small Works, Red Wing Depot Gallery, Red Wing, MN
New Editions, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Biennial Juried Exhibition, Great River Arts, Little Falls, MN
To The Moon And Back, Hudson Hospital and Clinic, curated by Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI
Color Me, Opening Night Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2018
Small Works, Red Wing Depot Gallery, Red Wing, MN
Mill City Art Show, Public Functionary, Minneapolis, MN
2017
Small Paintings (juror: Sally Johnson), Red Wing Depot Gallery, Red Wing, MN
Roots and Wings (juror: Eric William Carroll), Silverwood Park Gallery, Saint Anthony, MN
Abstract, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, MN
La Mese delle Donne, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
From Farm to Table, Red Wing Depot Gallery, Red Wing, MN
Summer Arts Discovery, Landmark Center, St. Paul, MN
2016
National Parks – Personal Narratives, Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI
Systems in Nature, Wargo Nature Center, Lino Lakes, MN
2015
Breaking Ground, Lunder Center for the Arts, Cambridge, MA
2014
Bibliophilia, Nave Gallery Annex, Somerville, MA
2013
Wings, Tails & Scales, The Greater Columbus Convention Center, in conjunction with the Midwest Veterinary Conference, Columbus, OH
2012
The Hundreds Show, Lincoln Arts Project, Waltham, MA
100 Prints Celebrating 100 Years, State Transportation Building, Boston, MA
30 Under 30, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
Arte Natura, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY
2011
Animals & Botanicals, Lincoln Arts Project, Waltham, MA
Critters, University of New England Art Gallery, Portland, ME
Black & White, Lincoln Arts Project, Waltham, MA
Small Works Show, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
2010
Small Works Show, Raandesk Gallery, New York, NY
Unhinged, Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
Teeny Tiny Art Show #7, Three Graces Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
Little Critters, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA
2009
Teeny Tiny Art Show #5 and Teeny Tiny Art Vendor, Three Graces Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
Junko Revival, hosted by Glovebox, Rescue, Allston, MA
2008
Senior Exhibition, Art Institute of Boston Main Gallery, Boston, MA
Archives of the Unnatural: BFA Exhibition (three-person), Art Institute of Boston Gallery at University Hall, Cambridge, MA
Awards and commissions
2026
Amp It Up Cohort member, Northampton Center for the Arts
2020
Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board
2019
Minneapolis Art Lending Library, Minneapolis, MN
Utility Box Wrap Public Art Project, Eden Prairie, MN
2018
Next Step Fund Grant, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC)/McKnight Foundation
Eagan Community Supported Art, Eagan, MN
Public Collections
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge Island, WA
Baylor University Libraries, Waco, TX
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
Florida State University, Strozier Library, Special Collections, Tallahassee, FL
Hennepin County Public Library, Minneapolis, MN
Indiana University Bloomington, Wells Library, Art & Architecture Collections, Bloomington, IN
Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN
Scripps College, Denison Library, Special Collections, Claremont, CA
Smith College, Neilson Library, Special Collections, Northampton, MA
University of California Los Angeles, Biomedical Library, Special Collections, Los Angeles, CA
University of Miami, Otto Richter Library, Special Collections, Judaica Studies, Miami, FL
University of Michigan, Art, Architecture, and Engineering Library, Special Collections, Ann Arbor, MI
Professional workshops
2019
Seed to Pigment: A Local Indigo Experience, Vibrant Valley Farm, Portland, OR
Foraging for Earth Pigments, Wildcraft Studio School, Portland, OR
Art from the Landscape – Wildcrafted Pens, Inks, Pigments, Paints, and Crayons, Bowie, MD
2018
Pigment Foraging, Early Futures, Oakland, CA
Natural Paintmaking, Wildcraft Studio School, Portland, OR
Making It Public Workshop, Forecast Public Art, Bloomington, MN
Selected Publications
2014
Little Book of Bookmaking: Timeless Techniques and Fresh Ideas for Beautiful Handmade Books, written by Charlotte Rivers, published by Potter Craft
2013
Uppercase Magazine issue 16
Education
2010
MLS, Archives Management Concentration, Simmons College, Boston, MA
2008
BFA cum laude, with Art History Minor, Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Boston, MA