Catharine Fichtner

I am interested in memory deficits, personal and cultural dysfunction, and how we piece together not only our personal stories but the myths and cultures created over millennia. 

A few years ago, I started using clothing pattern schematics as an armature to play with abstract painting techniques and narration. The schematics function as puzzle pieces, allowing me to play with formal elements that reference the complexity, layering, confusion, and intricacies of human memory. My most recent paintings are moving away from use of the paper schematics towards incorporation of fabric, which encases all of us and reveals much about us and our stories.

My ancestors are Pennsylvania Dutch and, as a young child, I watched as my grandmother and great aunts made quilts, lace, and clothing. I remember the drive through Amish country and seeing the brightly colored and stark black clothes hanging on clotheslines to dry. This was my first understanding that clothes vividly signify a group and their identity.  I’m fascinated with ways in which I can use fabric to tell stories; stories that are not literal but rather stories told through fragmented glimpses that must be deciphered.