Catherine Erb

Catherine Erb, is a self-taught fine-art photographer from Memphis. She began
her fascination with photography in the late 80’s when she started using her
camera as a way to visually journal. In 2003 she discovered the digital darkroom
and began creating her own pigment prints as well as exploring alternative ways
to print her work by adding encaustic wax and pigments to her images.
“I spend the most time searching for glimpses of a things divine essence and
being still and present enough to capture those moments. There is a little break
in time that occurs after something comes into my viewfinder but before I have
had a chance to react or form a judgment: there is clarity in that interval of time
and I try to shoot and capture that moment. When I am successful, the result is
not just an image, but a feeling and reminder that the magic always happens in
the present.”

Catherine Erb’s luminous photo-based works capture a spirit of the sublime in everyday life. Her practice is a meditative process, exploring and revealing the radiance of the present moment and the complexities of relationships among people, places, things, as well as things unseen. Her studies of clouds transcend space and time with luscious translucence, while her portraits of everyday objects are instilled with the ineffable longing of memory. Her explorations of nature are sensitive and full, leaving the viewer with a profound sense of peace. Merging photography with painting, she has developed a method to create surfaces that feel both vulnerable and complex. Beginning with an image printed on watercolor paper, Erb mounts her photographs on birch panel, subtlety manipulating them with soft pigments and numerous layers of tinted wax. Overall, her unique perception merges reality with imagination, connects the physical and the divine, and shares a deep reverence of memory as well as the present moment.