Artist Statement
I am a figurative artist. I work in water media, oil, and charcoal. My work is created through a layering process which results in a blurring of the lines liberating the edges and giving the figure and landscape continuity and dependence. The figure becomes a part of the landscape and the landscape becomes part of the figure so that one does not exist without the other. This indistinction and dependency are the foundation of all my work.

The pieces in this exhibition are several key paintings from several series of works from the last four years. It is my hope to show how each series melds and transitions into the next, allowing me to delve deeper into the reciprocity of the figure and the landscape with each piece of my art. I often choose to leave parts of both the landscape and figure completely out of the painting or diffuse to allow the viewer access into my work. Through the deletion of details, I am giving an invitation to my viewers to place their own personal emotion into each painting with the hope that it will give them a closer connection with my work and thoughts.

Every painting references some personal part of my life. I examine the mundane, ordinary aspects of life and try to give them a poetic voice with my art. The figures are never solely any one person, but an amalgamation of people that have played integral parts in my life for either good or bad reasons. Many very personal references appear throughout my work such as circles, pearls, boats, fish, handwriting, and houses, which often accompany the figures in my work. These symbols are both literally and figuratively designed into each piece, adding another layer of continuity to my work. These references have significant meaning for me but are also very familiar as cultural references, thereby giving my work a comforting, familiar feeling.

Biography
Cathy Hegman is a contemporary figurative artist from Mississippi. Cathy maintains a studio in Holly Bluff, Mississippi.

Hegman has worked as a full-time artist for over 33 years and has taught workshops, written features and articles for many national art magazines, and has been represented by professional galleries for over 20 years. Cathy no longer teaches workshops but maintains a blog that gives insight into her working processes, shares tips, and brings her art journey to others.

She has had solo exhibitions of her work over the last 12 years in various galleries and museums. These include both national and international art exhibitions in the United States, Brazil, China, and England.

Cathy has attained signature memberships in the American Watercolor Society, Mississippi Watercolor Society, Missouri Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, the Society of Animal Artists, Southern Watercolor Society, International Society of Experimental Artists, and the International Society of Acrylic Painters. In 2018, Cathy earned her Dolphin Fellowship in the American Watercolor Society.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards in national and international exhibitions over the years. Most recently being awarded the Dagmar Tribble Award in the 151st International Exhibition in New York in 2018.

Cathy presently serves as Vice President of the Mississippi Art Colony. She was on the board of the Mississippi Watercolor Society for over 10 years and served as chairman on many of their International Exhibition Committees. Cathy was the first Mississippi Native to receive the American Watercolor Society’s 150th Exhibition Gold Medal as well as their Dolphin Fellowship.

Her work is currently represented by Sue Greenwood Fine Art Gallery in Laguna Beach, California, Fischer Gallery of Jackson, Mississippi, Tew Galleries of Atlanta, Georgia, Carol Robinson Gallery of New Orleans, Louisiana, Bennett Galleries in Nashville, Tennessee, and Principle Galleries in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dean Mitchell is a national award-winning painter of landscapes and figures, often depicting middle and lower class people and regions from his southern background and personal experiences. He is inspired by grizzled laborers, time-worn elderly faces, and persons like himself who have lived in a segregated environment. Art critic Michael Kimmelman wrote in “The New York Times” that Mitchell was a virtual modern-day Vermeer’.