Jane Catlin: A Retrospective

This retrospective is a way of honoring Jane Catlin’s career as an artist and teacher which has lasted more than forty years. During that time she has produced a remarkable body of work, evolving from her early figural paintings of the 1990s to the semi-abstraction of images of biological forms and processes from the last decade or so. Though the style and content has gradually shifted and changed, not least because of the profound influence of her travels through Japan, Korea, Africa, and Canada, what this overview reveals is a compelling consistency in her themes and concerns, most notably a fascination with biology, ecology, and the environment. The often strange and mysterious imagery that results from her visual meditations evoke, and give voice to, the mutating world and serve as a reminder of both the beauty and fragility of the nature around us. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to see some of her most significant works collected together for the first time.

Jane Catlin was born in 1951 and grew up in Ogden, Utah in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. After graduating with a BFA in Painting at Utah State University in 1986, she went on to study at the Rhode Island School of Design, receiving her MFA in Painting in 1989. She began her teaching career at USU in 1994 and retired in 2020, being awarded the title of Emeritus Professor of Drawing and Painting.

David C. Wall, PhD Associate Professor of Film and Visual Studies.