July 12–Sept. 7, 2024 | Reception: July 13, 5:30–7:30pm
Cathy Hillegas is a nationally acclaimed artist best known for her remarkable watercolor paintings that capture the intimate moments of the natural world in all their delicacy and grace. Southwest Art Magazine recently wrote of her work: “Dramatic lighting and a zoomed in perspective on flowers, leaves and other natural objects are Hillegas trademarks.”
Hillegas is particularly drawn to objects or scenes that are filled with light. She states, “Light transforms the mundane, making colors glow, illuminating details, and causing unexpected color to spill into shadows. Light is often symbolic of the transformative power of the spiritual or that which exists beyond ourselves. Light, in my work, serves as both subject and metaphor.”
Hillegas did not set out to be an artist, although making art was always part of her life. Both of her parents loved to draw and encouraged her to do the same. After pursuing careers in counselling, interpreting for the deaf, and writing, she came back to art when she took a watercolor class at Preston Arts Center in 1993. She was immediately hooked, and after many classes and years of practice, she was invited back to teach the same watercolor class in which she was a student.
She has been accepted into many juried shows and art fairs. Her work can be found in both private and corporate collections. She is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and the Kentucky Watercolor Society.
She lives in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, just a little bit downstream from her childhood home. The same creek where she spent many happy hours as a child flows through her backyard.