Cathy Sarkowsky

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Artist Statement

Cathy Sarkowsky is a painter and printmaker whose passion is playing with color. She has spent most of her life living in the magnificent Pacific Northwest. Perhaps life in the gray zone literally colored her artistic inclinations?

Sarkowsky has one BA and two MA degrees, all of which inform her worldview and work – and none of which was literally an art degree. She has been painting and making prints for nearly 30 years after realizing that the only component of an artist’s life she was missing was actually creating art. She has never turned back.

Sarkowsky has been showing and selling her work in galleries and shows for nearly three decades, taking classes and workshops, attending residencies, and being part of a proliferation of artists, collectors and appreciators. Her work is in many collections, including Tacoma Art Museum and Swedish Hospital in Seattle.

Cathy’s artistic philosophy is to let stories unfold, rather than to focus on generating any particular pre-conceived output, which requires her to let intuition and spontaneity dominate as she finds balance, for example, between exacting line work and the unpredictable flow of ink. This process of artistic emancipation unleashes fantastic opportunity and promise. Her work tends to be expressive rather than representational. Sarkowsky revels in the alchemy of material, color, and hand. It is from this vision that the layering and textures in her work reflect the accumulation of memories, nostalgia, and experiences, both good and bad, which give substance to life – and to art.

Sarkowsky’s intention and hope is that her art will resonate deeply, viscerally, personally – providing enduring inspiration, intrigue and joy.

Cathy Sarkowsky’s Studio is stop #14 on the 2023 VIVA Holiday Art Studio Tour, Dec 2-3 & 9-10, Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 am – 4 pm.  For more information on the free, self-guided tour and an interactive map, click here.