by Molly Angel on May 12, 2017

“My first aesthetic experience was at The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Then as a teen, Picasso’s Guernica blew me away.”
Accomplished award winning artist, Manhattan born Cathyann Burgess sold her first artwork when 13. Early validation of her interest and talent in visual art propelled her educational pursuit. She holds an MSEd Art, instructing others while raising her sons. Her artwork, Rarified graces a banner in downtown Hendersonville’s Artscape.

After an itinerant lifetime with her husband’s employment, Burgess has been “at home and studio” in Hendersonville, North Carolina since 2015. “I love it here in WNC. Inspiration surrounds me in this rural environment. I never lack subject matter. I am not just a studio painter. I enjoy and teach plein air painting.” Also, networking with the many other accomplished artists in town has eased transition to her new home. A veteran of public, private and museum education, Cathyann serves voluntarily as Appalachian Pastel Society Program Chair, which extends a 30+ year career teaching about art.

Burgess has maintained online presence since 2006 with her blog Cathyann’s Studio and at cathyannburgessfineart.com

Awarded with juried acceptance for three consecutive years into On Common Ground: From Mountains to Sea, a state pastel competition has been gratifying.

“Soft pastels and oils mixed with cold wax medium are my tools of late. I feel that I’ve “come home” with them. I love color! The landscape here entices me, but really it matters more that I paint rather than what I paint. The magic of orchestrating that blank space is a gift I treasure and work at daily. In the process I find peace as well as exhilaration.”

Burgess exhibits at Asheville Gallery of Art, Art on 4th Ave in Hendersonville, and Up Against the Wall Gallery, Kingsport,Tennessee.