Isa Catto

Mapping Pi 40 x 53 1⁄2 inches Watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Mapping Pi
40 x 53 1⁄2 inches
Watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Uncharted Territory 12 x 14 inches Acrylic and oil pen on panel 2018
Uncharted Territory
12 x 14 inches
Acrylic and oil pen on panel
2018
Hidden Territory 12 x 14 inches  Acrylic and oil pen on panel 2018
Hidden Territory
12 x 14 inches
Acrylic and oil pen on panel
2018
Bull Thistle 12 x 14 inches  Acrylic and oil pen on panel 2018
Bull Thistle
12 x 14 inches
Acrylic and oil pen on panel
2018
Circuit” 12 x 14 inches  Acrylic and oil pen on panel 2018
Circuit”
12 x 14 inches
Acrylic and oil pen on panel
2018
Threshold 5 x 5 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Threshold
5 x 5 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Study for Thistle Head 5 x 5 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Study for Thistle Head
5 x 5 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Insect Trails 5 x 5 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Insect Trails
5 x 5 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Prairie Fire
5 x 5 inches
Original Watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Salsify - yellow 5 x 5 inches Original Watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Salsify – yellow
5 x 5 inches
Original Watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Fading Aster - purple 5 x 5 inches Original Watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Fading Aster – purple
5 x 5 inches
Original Watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Π 1-27 10 3⁄8 x 10 7⁄8 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Π 1-27
10 3⁄8 x 10 7⁄8 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Π 28-52 11 x 10 3⁄4 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Π 28-52
11 x 10 3⁄4 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018
Π 53-78 11 1⁄8 x 10 3⁄4 inches Original watercolor on watercolor paper 2018
Π 53-78
11 1⁄8 x 10 3⁄4 inches
Original watercolor on watercolor paper
2018

For availability and pricing please contact the gallery.

 

Artist Statement

Like so many Americans, I have been agitated and distracted by our relentless national chaos and have been wondering about my place in a nation that I thought I at least somewhat knew. I’ve responded in predictable ways. Old anxieties of mine surrounding belonging – and not belonging — have resurfaced. Over this last year, feeling unmoored and looking for antidotes, I’ve doubled down on my own advocacy and have withdrawn into my family, friends and studio. l wrote a clumsy book. I hid in the garden and in the hills. I read. I binged on Masterpiece Theater. Ultimately I fretted that all of the noise around me was reinforcing my own myopia and disorientation. I needed to reset my compass, find a new course, draw up a new map.

We rely on maps to navigate earthly and celestial terrain, and I feel grounded, in control somehow, when I am pulled into a fabulous map. Oh here I am! There I will go!  And then there are maps for our internal landscapes and methods we call on to steer through spiritual terrain. Mine help preserve sanity and joy—and trek through heartbreak and confusion. But they were falling short of guiding me through my own brand of American angst. When I rediscovered the expression “the map is not the territory,,” coined by Alfred Korzybski, I  found inspiration. “Territory” is the noun of conquerors, but I it has a more oblique connotation— a prompt to go deep instead of wide. I looked at my own territory with fresh perspective— the territories of human interaction, of cultivated and uncultivated landscapes, and of numbers. Numbers are, after all, maps to access many things, including the infinite. So I found infinite space in detail — territories within territories —and my sense of agency returned. In this instance I don’t require a map to anchor me, just a renewed commitment to authenticity. Here I am. Now I can go.

Biography

isaIsa Catto’s work has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and abroad.  She has spent the last fifteen years working in watercolor and mixed media, as well as teaching workshops at arts centers worldwide.  She lives in Colorado with her husband and two children.  She received her BA from Williams College and studied fine art at the University of Colorado Boulder and Parsons School of Design in New York.  She teaches at Colorado Mountain College in Aspen, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, and the Wyly Arts Center in Basalt.  She has also taught at the Michael Kohler Arts Center, San Antonio Center for Arts and Crafts, and the Austin Museum of Art.