Laura Catherwood
Laura Catherwood’s nuanced, richly textured paintings and pencil illustrations transport viewers to an alternate reality where flora, fauna and human feeling coalesce in unexpected and uncanny ways.
Chicago-based Catherwood abandoned a career in neuroscience research to pursue a life in art, honing her craft at the School of Representational Art and Atelier Eftimov. She began exhibiting in group shows in 2016, followed two years later by her solo debut ‘Jalan Jalan.’ Contributions to the Vertical Gallery group shows ‘Atomic Number 13’ and ‘Water the Plants!’ preceded Catherwood’s first Vertical solo showcase, 2022’s ‘Book of Yielding.’ The Rashomon-like ‘Hearsay’ followed a year later, unpacking the tale of three animals who returned from a fateful fishing trip with vastly different interpretations of what transpired. Catherwood graced our space again in 2024 with ‘All Things Stirring,’ a walking tour through her fractured-folklore landscape. “I want to soothe people through my art, and when I’m feeling distressed in my own life, I take walks,” she says. “Walking in nature gets you closest to remembering that you’re just one small part of an interconnected world, and that eventually, you will be re-absorbed into it.”
















