Cath Brooke
Demonstration - Art in Printing

Cath studied fine art at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where her interest in industrial spaces began during sketching trips to Swan Hunter shipyard on the River Tyne.

Following University Cath started an evening class at Leeds College of Art where she became hooked on printmaking. She has been facilitating community arts projects for many years, working at Skippko Arts Team in Leeds as programme manager alongside teaching print to beginners and those with experience.

Cath’s own practice is inspired by urban and industrial landscapes. Much of her work is based on sketches around the Redcar area, the North and South Gare and Teesside.

Images focus on changing industrial landscapes and ways in which nature responds when large industrial structures are abandoned: shipyards, power-stations and steel furnaces. Cath often visits the same sites many times, documenting the changes taking place, exploring relationships between the industry that was and the nature that remains.

Many of her works combine drypoint, monoprint and collagraph methods. Her approach to producing prints starts with an idea developed from sketches, which then evolves as the process takes over and she responds to the unexpected marks and colours in each layer. Most of Cath’s prints are made in very small editions of up to 4.  Due to the hand inking process, each print will vary, making each unique.