Since graduating from the National Art School in Sydney, NSW, Catherine has been the recipient of two major art awards, Emerging Artist on the Rocks, Sydney (2006) and the Waverly Art Prize (2007) and a residency at the Cite Des Arts International Paris (2008). In 2011 she was successful in securing a Regional Arts Fund (RAF) grant to do a major Public Art project The Sea Hammock – What Lies Beneath and has subsequently been the feature artist on two RAF funded Projects including The Wisdom of the Elders Project (2012 – Video) and The Portland Botanical Gardens Art and Community Engagement Project (2013 – Painting/Photography/Installation). In 2014 Catherine initiated and facilitated the establishment of The Space, a short term, self funded residency for writers and artists and the Virtual Arboretum Portland, a four artist, interactive, installation project with public art outcomes. She was also artist in Residence at the Narrawong District Primary School as part of the Vicarts Artists in Schools Program using street art techniques to build a community mural.

Catherine’s art practice re-contextualises, re-historicizes and reanimates the meaning of lost, long forgotten places, stories and objects, through a variety of mediums, including painting, wall collage and paste-ups, photography and digital media. Her multi-layered installations and photographs are directed by a non-linear narrative that examines the effects of humans on the natural environment, dissecting the fallout from habitat destruction, marine pollution and climate change in the marine and land environments, in her region in Southern Victoria.

For more information and images of Catherine's work please go to http://www.catbailey.wordpress.com/

Refer also http://www.rav.net.au/whats-on/member-events/be-a-test-pilot