Catherine Ross – Fall 2016 Honorable Mention

Meet Catherine Ross, a junior at Pacific Northwest College of Art, who is majoring in Painting. We would like to congratulate Ms. Ross on being selected as one of three recipients of our Fall 2016 Honorable Mention Commendations for a Frederic Whitaker and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker Foundation Scholarship:

I am a multi-disciplinary artist working in Portland, Oregon. After spending the last ten years traveling in over 20 countries, learning Spanish, Portuguese and French while working as a painter, I returned to the States and am currently pursuing a BFA in painting at the Pacific NorthWest College of Art. Combining painting, video and sound, sculpture, and performance, I push the boundaries of media and materials to create hybrid works that explore the possibilities and limitations of the body. My work considers class, race and gender, the commodification of the body, labor, the forfeit of physicality for online avatars, obsessive self-documentation and consumption of one’s own image in the digital age. I have recently founded a painting club and movement/performance club at my college. I am currently creating an artists’ collective for women that encourages collaboration and support for female artists in my community. I plan to get an MFA after graduation, focusing on art and dance as ways to engage the local community and increase compassion and connection in local/national/global communities.