Catherine Twomey

Catherine M. Twomey has been an artist for as long as she can remember. Early on, she was the “class artist” and painted many a mural. She earned a degree in Art Education and taught at the high school and grade school levels at schools in the farmlands of Illinois as well as near Chicago. At the same time, she began exhibiting her own work at art fairs around Chicagoland. However, as schools phased out art programs she knew a career change was needed.

Her curiosity and innate ability to communicate visually led her to become a practicing medical illustrator, garnering many industry awards over the years as she illustrated for medicine, health and education. Catherine’s works appeared on national television, in courtrooms as evidence, in magazines and textbooks and as 25’ tall illustrations of the cardiovascular systems at trade shows. Pharmacies carried her artwork on brochures internationally. Catherine flew to South Africa to make certain her eye illustrations were serving the audience they were designed for. She has presented her techniques at conferences in Madrid, Phoenix and Chicago.

Gradually, however, Twomey responded to an intrinsic calling to create her own, personal art in her own style. Encouraged by early successes such as winning national competitions, (ArtInPlace, Higbee 6X6” Squared, Bank of the Arts) and being awarded one-person shows and exhibitions, Twomey moved into the realm of fine art. She continues to expand her successes via competitions, acquisitions into collections, press coverage and international recognition.

Twomey revels in using oils, watercolors and acrylics, intermixing hues in a highly planned orchestration of paint layers. The finished works celebrate the unmatched detail and beauty of places Twomey has initially painted en plein air. Her intimate, on-site absorption of a place and time is reimagined into complex abstractions designed to focus on the overwhelming need to protect the sacred places of nature. Twomey’s latest body of work, Universe Series, is a visual declaration of intent to prompt people to positively respond and engage in their natural world, politically, physically and emotionally.

Catherine’s work can by found in corporate collections, including those of the Sanofi Winthrop, General Electric, TAP Pharmaceutics, Abbott Labs, Pfizer, Wine & Country, NBC, the Asheville Art Museum, Mission Hospital and many others. Recent museum shows include the i.d.e.a. Museum in Arizona and over 100 works at the = Lloyd Museum in Cincinatti, Ohio. Her works are found in private collections internationally.

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Inspiration, and great humor, has come from family.

My brother, Steve Twomey, is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. His recent acclaimed book, Countdown to Pearl Harbor: Twelve Days to the Attack can be found HERE

He’s working on another book, but we’ll see.

My brother’s wife, Kathleen Carroll, was Executive Editor of the Associated Press for 15 years. As Executive Editor, Kathleen led thousands of journalists throughout the world and was part of a team who won a Pulitzer Prize for an article exposing slave workers in the seafood industry. She was also Chairperson of the Pulitzer Committee. After retirement, she now serves as Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, working to protect journalists in dire situations around the world. Additional information can be found here: https://cpj.org/about/board-of-directors/

Catherine lives in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. She is an avid horseback rider, biker and hiker – anything to keep her close to nature.

Interested in prints? Click on the slideshow below.