Cathy Bird is someone who has always loved teaching. As she says ' It's hard to explain to anyone who has not experienced it, just how wonderfully rewarding I find my teaching work. It is just a total buzz to walk into the room and enter a world of creativity.'
After graduating from Art School Cathy spent several years painting portraits and landscapes in Malawi as well as running a small nursery school.
Later moving to the Gambia, Cathy worked for two years with young, unemployed Gambians creating original Batik pictures for hotels and the tourist market. This resulted in a small industry which, thirty years later, still survives as an art form in the Gambia.
Returning to the UK saw the start of over twenty years as an Art teacher and it was only on retirement that she began painting again for herself. In 2006 she decided to bring herself up to date with an MA in Fine Arts in Canterbury, Her time is now divided between her own work and being an art tutor for a wide range of aspiring artists in her own Kent studios.
After graduating from Art School Cathy spent several years painting portraits and landscapes in Malawi as well as running a small nursery school.
Later moving to the Gambia, Cathy worked for two years with young, unemployed Gambians creating original Batik pictures for hotels and the tourist market. This resulted in a small industry which, thirty years later, still survives as an art form in the Gambia.
Returning to the UK saw the start of over twenty years as an Art teacher and it was only on retirement that she began painting again for herself. In 2006 she decided to bring herself up to date with an MA in Fine Arts in Canterbury, Her time is now divided between her own work and being an art tutor for a wide range of aspiring artists in her own Kent studios.
Painting
Movement, Light and Colour are the main concerns in Cathy's work. Trained in oils, she has spent several years enhancing her water-colour technique to achieve the vibrancy and liveliness she seeks.
Cathy is classically trained and started her painting career in Malawi. She now exhibits yearly with the South East Open Studios and the Kent Painters' Group. Her subjects are flowers, portraits and landscapes but her favourite is Women and Washing Lines - blowing in the wind.
Movement, Light and Colour are the main concerns in Cathy's work. Trained in oils, she has spent several years enhancing her water-colour technique to achieve the vibrancy and liveliness she seeks.
Cathy is classically trained and started her painting career in Malawi. She now exhibits yearly with the South East Open Studios and the Kent Painters' Group. Her subjects are flowers, portraits and landscapes but her favourite is Women and Washing Lines - blowing in the wind.
Community Work
In her early twenties, Cathy helped start a craft shop for Malawian artists and designed a range of cotton dresses that sold at under £1.00 to make fashion accessible to local girls. This set the pattern for her involvement in the arts on a community level.
For many years Cathy has directed an International Arts Festival in East Grinstead where professionals and amateurs in all forms of art come together from all over the world.
In July 2004, one of her many community work endeavours took her to Honduras as a UN Volunteer, where she represented the UK in the ARTE PARA TODOS (Art for All) project to create murals and sculptures on the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Youth for Human Rights is a movement Cathy strongly supports and she inaugurated the creation of murals based on the Declaration of Human Rights by young people in locations across the UK and Europe.
In her early twenties, Cathy helped start a craft shop for Malawian artists and designed a range of cotton dresses that sold at under £1.00 to make fashion accessible to local girls. This set the pattern for her involvement in the arts on a community level.
For many years Cathy has directed an International Arts Festival in East Grinstead where professionals and amateurs in all forms of art come together from all over the world.
In July 2004, one of her many community work endeavours took her to Honduras as a UN Volunteer, where she represented the UK in the ARTE PARA TODOS (Art for All) project to create murals and sculptures on the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Youth for Human Rights is a movement Cathy strongly supports and she inaugurated the creation of murals based on the Declaration of Human Rights by young people in locations across the UK and Europe.