Catherine Webb, artist-in-residence in Bucharest: “Life is my best teacher”

American artist Catherine Webb, a Yale University graduate with majors in Painting and Environmental Justice, spent a month in Romania as part of an artist residency in Bucharest, but she also visited Suceava, Iași, and Cluj-Napoca, meeting people and seeing places that inspired her and were captured in several of her works.

Webb—who has Scottish and Cherokee roots—explores themes related to nature, intimacy, and the human condition, and her artist residency at the Foundation for Art, Nature, and Society in Bucharest was an “incredible” experience for her, as she reveals in an interview with Curatorial.

Here, she lived and worked in a gallery alongside the works in an exhibition—she expressed herself artistically while surrounded by paintings by Constantin Piliuță, an artist she admires for his “expressive subjects.” The young artists she met also impressed her, especially with the passion they displayed.

Regarding herself, the passion for art grew out of drawing, which she discovered as a child, and eventually became a way of life. She studied in the United States as well as abroad, including a year in Florence, and her early teachers were the ones who shaped her approach to her work. If painting is the medium through which she escapes, environmental justice is what brings her back into balance with the surrounding reality, says the artist.
Recurring themes in her work include plants, shadows, the movement of light, windows, people, and water.

Influenced by artists such as Henri Matisse, Joan Mitchell, Caravaggio, Lucian Freud, and Giorgio Morandi, she is not interested in trends and, in general, “is not a big fan of contemporary art.”
For her, creating a painting can have a maternal significance, in the sense that her works, once completed, “are as dear to me as little children.” In keeping with this idea, while working in Bucharest, she depicted herself as pregnant, as a metaphor for her artistic growth.

Catherine Webb (b. 2000) grew up in Southern California and has been living in New York for several years.
She held her first solo exhibition in New Haven one month before graduating in 2023, and has since presented her paintings in group and solo exhibitions in Brooklyn and Manhattan, representing herself.
She has also been an artist-in-residence in the U.S., Portugal, France, and Italy.

The oil paintings created in the Bucharest studio were exhibited under the title “Sight Is Just One Sense” at the headquarters of the Foundation for Art, Nature, and Society in mid-July.

What drew you towards art, initially?

Catherine Webb: Drawing was the first thing that made me sit still as a child, and so I was encouraged to make art from a young age. Later on, in elementary school, I was exposed to art history in a section called “art masters,” where we also would make art in the style of that movement or artist. It was always my favorite time of the week.

Looking back, what aspects of your education continue to influence your artistic practice?

Catherine Webb:
I have been very lucky with the teachers and mentors I have had. The person who taught me oil painting was very strict about color mixing and matching. I still set up my color palette the same way he taught me. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, in 2019 and I learned to make my own oil paints from raw pigments, which really blew my mind. Since then, I have been a huge nerd when it comes to materials and painting conservation.

I am also very passionate about environmental justice, and this work keeps me balanced as I think about the real world, not just my internal one, and how I want to make the world a better place.

How would you describe your artistic style to someone seeing your work for the first time?

Catherine Webb: My paintings are textured and fairly colorful, with attention to the light. I work primarily with my palette knife, which allows me to have a very direct relationship between color mixing and paint application.

This isn’t your first artist-in-residence program. How did you decide to come to Bucharest, and what was the whole experience like?

Catherine Webb: I came to Bucharest after connecting with the Foundation. The entire experience has been incredible. Romanians are very hospitable and generous with their time. I have enjoyed meeting young artists across Romania, who are very passionate about their work.

What aspects of Romanian culture, history, or landscape, and which artists, have impressed you the most?

Catherine Webb: Visiting the Voroneț Monastery was very inspiring. I was thinking about how they chose not to restore the front of the building, which has been most affected by the wind and rain. The weathered, unrestored parts are beautiful and begin to look like abstract compositions. I really enjoyed the old things I saw, because they are so different from what I see in the US.

In addition, I was surrounded by the paintings of Constantin Piliuţă while living in the gallery in Bucharest. The limited color palette yet expressive subjects really captivated me.

Have you brought a new project to the residency, or have you continued working on something you were already developing? How has it evolved along the way?

Catherine Webb: I didn’t arrive with any project and was very open to how it evolved. After spending a while planning and visioning, I decided that the most ambitious project possible within my short studio timeline in Bucharest would be two medium-scale portraits— one from a live sitting and one self-portrait. Portraiture is my most comfortable subject, but it also allows me to experiment. For example, with color or composition.

How many works did you create during your stay in Romania? What sets them apart from your previous ones?

Catherine Webb: I made three small paintings during each of my weekend trips in Suceava, Iasi, and Cluj. While making small studies has been part of my practice, I have never done it so intentionally and routinely as a way to record my experiences. Painting helps me feel present in a place, and I felt very connected to the subjects I chose for these small studies.

The two medium-scale portraits I made in Bucharest are quite different. The first painting (a portrait from live sittings) is done in my typical style. However, I challenged myself to fully complete the composition by layering color throughout instead of implying space and perspective with line drawing. The other is a self-portrait. Instead of painting with a palette knife in my typical style, I tried a more reductive approach. I combined a line-drawing self-portrait and an abstract painting, and then wiped away the paint and layers until I was happy with it. I was thinking about how beautiful some “unfinished” paintings are in art history, especially by old masters, and also the beautiful weathering of the Voronet monastery. I also made a conceptual leap— I depicted myself pregnant, but as a metaphor for my artistic growth. Also thinking about how making a painting can have a maternal element for me, where paintings (when finished) feel dear to me, like little children.

What does a typical day in the residency look like for you?

Catherine Webb: I usually wake up early and go for a walk first thing. I listen to books while walking, oftentimes on art history. Then I do some writing and work through some artistic ideas. Then, I get to work. Early on in the residency, I was going to the art supply stores and sketching a lot. Later in the residency, I was painting and mixing colors.

What do you think American artists can learn from international residencies?

Catherine Webb: There is so much. I think anyone in any circumstance can grow by living in a different place, even briefly, to experience a different culture, learn a bit of the language, try local foods, and understand different histories.

What are you taking away from this experience, beyond the works you’ve created?

Catherine Webb: The people I’ve met.

Would you return to Romania? If so, for what kind of project?

Catherine Webb: I would love to return to Romania with all my heart. I have no idea what kind of project it would be, but over the next year, I will think more about what might be possible.

How do you think this residency will influence your work after your return to New York?

Catherine Webb: I am excited to continue thinking critically about creating work that is not only beautiful but also holds some deeper meanings and layered intentions.

What are your goals for the next five years of your artistic career?

Catherine Webb: To work as much as possible, and challenge myself to experiment conceptually. I also would like to travel more, perhaps heading farther east or going south. Perhaps I will pursue a Master’s in Fine Art, but I am not in a rush and think that life is my best teacher.