Biography & Exhibitions
Cary Whitworth has used drawing and painting to respond to her experience since she was a child, using a variety of media to investigate personal concerns or current events. Over the past eleven years she has developed a more gestural abstract style to capture directness and immediacy in her work. She uses colour, shape and line to explore layers of inner and outer experience. She develops ideas from life, her own photos or images from the media, ensuring that the composition is strong enough to carry multiple interpretations. She invites the viewer to look more closely, invent a narrative or imagine further contexts.
She has used print and collage layering to suggest where the prehistoric landscape in Cornwall shows traces of previous cultures and civilisations.
In 2022 she has been exploring different aspects of the hare using drypoint, linocut and collagraph. Folklore has depicted the hare in varied guises reflecting the shifting expressions of the self throughout our lives. It addresses the Buddhist view of 'no self', meaning no permanent self, but a series of different manifestations.
Working in a variety of media affects her painting style and expresses different aspects of her personality. Oils and acrylics are bold and dramatic while watercolours are soft and observational. Her collages combine images from news media with her own marks to reflect on current or past events and issues. Recently she has been exploring her relationship with landscape, working towards semi abstract style, using oil, acrylic and material found en pleine air. She enjoys the excitement of responding directly to the energy experienced at the coast, especially the clash of the sea meeting the land. She works fast to capture the moment, adjusting the image as the work develops to create a stronger atmosphere. She also makes prints later in the studio inspired by where she has been. Latterly she has been exploring her approach to portraiture using overlaid images to bring out layers or character and experience.
Since 2011 Cary has successfully exhibited twice yearly and sold work at the Camden Image Gallery, Strand Gallery, Espacio Gallery and other galleries as well as privately from her studio. Her work was chosen for the RWS Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition at Bankside in March 2018 She is a qualified Art Therapist currently working with a mental health charity in a therapeutic context.
EXHIBITIONS
Colour and Form 2022 London Painters and Sculptors Group 4-10 July Collective Gallery 18 Holywell Hill, St Albans AL1 1BZ
'Colour and Form 2019' London Painters and Sculptors Group
Camden Image Gallery 15 - 20 Oct 2019 London NW1 0SP
http://www.camden-image-gallery.co.uk/upcoming-exhibitions/#the-london-painters-sculptors-group
LPS Exhibition at Camden Image Gallery 2-7 Oct 2018 London NW1 0SP
RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition Exhibition at Bankside Gallery London SE1 9JH 2-14 Mar 2018
Solo exhibition at Coffee Seeker 297 Ballards Ln, London N12 8NP Feb - Mar 2018
Colour & Form, London Painters and Sculptors Group, The Strand Gallery, 32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP, 3-8 October 2017
Seeing Red, Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG 31 January - 12 February 2017
Land Marks, Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG, 12-18 September 2016
Place and Space, Espacio Galley, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG, 14 - 20 September 2015
NLAN Group Exhibition, The Strand Gallery, 32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP November 2015, 10-15 November 2015
Urban Angles, Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG, 9-16 August 2015
Points of View, Espacio Galley, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG, 22 - 28 Oct 2014. Private View 23 Oct 7-9pm
NLAN Group Show 2014, Camdem Image Art Gallery, 174 College St, London NW1 0SP,31 Oct - 2 Nov. Private View Oct 30 7-9.30pm.
Essence Art Exhibition, Fri 11 Oct 2013, Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam St, London, W1W 6JJ
The Bank at Eye, Suffolk, September - October 2013
Insight Art, 122 - 128 Lancaster Rd, New Barnet, London EN4 8AL , 22 - 23 June 2013
Tudor House Studio & Gallery, Sawbridgeworth,2nd July - 14th July 2012
Art Van Go, 9th Mar - 8th Apr 2011 Stevenage Road
Knebworth, Hertfordshire SG3 6AN
17@insight, 26/27 November 2011 www.insight-art.co.uk/seventeen.php
Wingfields Arts Centre, Suffolk 2010, 2011
Benington Art Exhibition 2011
Barnet Guild of Artists, High Barnet 2010
Teaching/Art Related work
Certificate in Person-Centred Art Therapy: Crawley College, 1992
Regular Therapeutic Art Sessions at Body and Soul, HIV Charity 2013 - present
Mentoring at the Refugee Therapy Centre including visual work, 2012 - 2013
Led Art Therapy Workshop at Highgate Newtown Community Centre, N195DO 9 Jun 2012
