Catherine "Kater" Cheek is a writer and artist.
Catherine Cheek
Author's posts
Jun 17
Agave Tile
Here’s another tile from my low-fire 2007 collection. Another fact: Instead of rolling out the slabs, I pounded them with a wooden mallet, flattened on one side, that I got at a workshop by Junya Shao and Xiaoping Luo at the Vihel center in Tempe. I find that if you pound the clay flat rather …
Jun 13
Rose and Violet Poppy Shrine
This shrine was inspired by the Mexican folk art shrines that honor Maria de Guadalupe and other Catholic saints. They’re usually bedecked with candles and marigolds and photos. I love the look, but I wanted something different. I started with an old deck of Morgan Greer tarot cards. It took me a while to decide …
Jun 10
Owl and Bone Shrine
I got a book called ‘Creating Personal Shrines’ by Carol Owen after Jane Cheek showed it to me. (Jane and I tend to inspire each other.) The focus of Carol Owen’s book was creating memory boxes based around family ancestors. Like most contemporary collage, her work is heavy on vintage photos and “ephemera”. Not my …
Jun 05
Orange and Violet Coin Book
This is my favorite book, and I almost considered keeping it rather than giving it away. I wanted to do a cover that was almost entirely cloth, because I like the soft tactile feel of it. I collaged it using a sewing machine, as I did with the glass fish book (not posted, as I …
Jun 02
Gold Japanese Book
For this book cover I started by gessoing over cotton cloth. Then I impressed in the wet gesso with some stamps. There’s a crysanthemum, a cherry branch, and a geisha, as well as something that looks like a stylized five pointed blossom. When the gesso dried, I painted over it with greenish and gold metallic …