Cathy Read
Reach out and feel time, smell the past, taste memories, hear voices of loved ones and embrace a rich world of sensory exploration.
My experience of life is dominated by sensory awareness. sounds, tastes, sights, smells and touch all colour my life experience. Sometimes they cross over, I can taste colours and hear pictures. I want you, the audience to experience the multisensory delight of my art. Each painting is a journey from an experience in the real world to an abstracted vision. After the painting is done, I sit with it and it tells me a story but that story is only the beginning.
I begin with the visual. Buildings reflect the dreams of the people who create them. Adopting an abstract style, I capture that dreamlike quality. A masked linear structure holds together fluid and energetic paint and ink, all loosely applied. The ink, especially, allows mini explosions of colour to evolve during the drying process.
In the paintings, I look for perspectives that convey the scale of the buildings. That sense of Awe at their sheer size. By experimenting with angles, foreshortening and shapes, I seek the essence of the vision behind their creation. Recreating that childhood sense of looming where the building feels like it will topple on you.
I look for contrasts where they occur: such as new buildings, with clean shapes and lines, alongside old decaying ones, or how, in older buildings, the geometry is softened by nature over time.
Interpreting the architecture, I find patterns of construction, flaws, wear and tear. Making features of the mundane and ordinary, the signs of the people who occupied the spaces. Mankind likes to make its mark, especially with public developments. People living and working in the spaces further modify the environment. The buildings are occupied and altered from subtle wear and tear to major remodelling.
In 2026, I began creating a multi sensory experience to accompany these paintings. Drawing on my therapy background, I'm developing ways to recreate these images as a tactile experience using laser cutting on wood enhanced with various materials and found objects. Using video of locations, filming the painting process and readings of my writings, I'm able to create an auditory connection to the paintings along with additional visual stimulus.
Smell is a powerful sense and can instantly connect with nearly forgotten memories. Using Scents pulled from the locations as well as essential oils and scented plants.
Taste is proving a practical challenge, but I'm working on it.
Lived Experience
The artist dream dominated my childhood, then life got messy in my teens. Growing up, money was always tight. A background of rising unemployment, benefits and well meaning family and friends persuaded me to “be realistic and find a proper job”.
Settling on Occupational Therapy, I trained in Oxford, and started work. Eventually specialising in paediatrics. I specialised in Sensory Integration Therapy working with children with developmental Coordination Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism. This led to a private practice which fitted around my growing family. Or so I thought, then their needs and those of the practice became incompatible. I had to choose one, so I took a break, intending to return to therapy when the family were older.
During that time, I rediscovered art, its healing properties and that making art was my identity.
In a “now or never” moment, my artist journey began with a Blog - posting a picture everyday. I explored a variety of media and subjects, as my style emerged.
Abstract architecture – defined by me as order and chaos. I draw with masking fluid, then create textural layers in watercolour and acrylic ink. In 2018, using my therapy skills, I started enhancing these paintings with stories and later pairing them with tactile objects. In 2026 I began creating a full 5 sensory experience.
Cathy Read - Selected shows
Solo Exhibitions
2025 City Dreams – Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford
2024 Whispers of the Imagination – Buckingham
2022 When Dreams Take Shape – Buckingham
2020–21 Bafa presents Cathy Read – Buckingham
2019–20 Cathy Read at Cripps Pemberton Greenish – Kings Hill, curated by June Frickleton
2019 Cathy Read's 4950 Exhibition – Buckingham
2018 Take a Trip to Marylebone with Cathy Read – Claydon
2017 London Calling – Henley
2014 The Modern Face of Oxford – Oxford
MK Project – Milton Keynes
2013 99% London – Woodstock
2013–14 A Tale of 2 Cities – Buckingham
2012 The Milton Keynes Project – Milton Keynes
A New Perspective – Buckingham
2011 Contemporary City – Oxford
From Circles to Cities – Buckingham
Group Exhibitions – Selected
2013–26 Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibitions – London
2021 20th International Art Exchange, Chiba Art Museum, Japan
2017 & 21 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Open – London
2017 Artist of the Year – Artists and Illustrators – London
2014 Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Art Exhibition – London
2011 From Morning 'till Night – Tate Modern, London. Participant in performance piece by Katerina Seda
Public and Corporate Collections
Ashmolean Museum · Oxford University Press · Royal Latin School · Wetherspoons · Victoria Station · Bahlsen LLC
Awards and Honours – Selected
2025 Highly Commended Best in Show – Reflections Exhibition, Buckingham Art for All
2019 Highly Commended Best in Show and Winner, Best Painting in Mixed Media – Joy Exhibition, Buckingham Art for All
2017 Wild and Tame Award – Artist of the Year, Artists and Illustrators Magazine
2017 Shortlisted, Artist of the Year – Artists and Illustrators Magazine
2015 Barbara Tate Memorial Award – Society of Women Artists
2015 Best Interpretation of a Theme – Buckingham Art for All People's Vote
Publications and Media
Television
2022 South Today – Live interview (BBC)
2018 Three Counties Radio – Live interview
2016–17 Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
Podcasts
2021 Connect and Create with Corrina Sephora, Ep. 52 – The 49/50 Paintings Challenge
2020 The Art Biz, Ep. 43 – Turning Journaling into Audio for Your Art Show
YouTube
2020–26 Saturday Night Live Art Shows and Cathy Read Art Channel
Books and Published Articles
2018 The Oxford Art Book – artist contributor
2016 Buckinghamshire Life
2016 Oxford Almanach – The Ashmolean, Ed. 71
2014 The Milton Keynes Project (author and artist)
Press
2022 Best of British Inspired by Oxford – Ox Magazine
2021 Inspired by the Spoken Word – Ox Magazine
2019 Urban Twist – Buckinghamshire Living / Oxford Limited Edition
2017 Architecture and Aquatints – Ox Magazine
2017 Cathy Read – Limited Edition, Oxfordshire
Lectures and Associated Activities
2026 Artist Entrepreneur: From Art Creator to Art Business – NatWest, Milton Keynes
2025 Sketchbooks to Smartphones – Buckingham Community Centre
2023 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood – Pinner Sketch Club
Society of Women Artists – elected Associate Member 2014, Full Member 2015
Residencies
2011–12 Fringe MK, Westbury
Education and Employment
1983–87 Diploma of the College of Occupational Therapists – Dorset House, Oxford (now Oxford Brookes University)
1987–97 Occupational Therapist (Paediatrics) – Bedford Health Authority
1992–96 Additional training in Sensory Integration Therapy – SIAUK
1997–06 Self-employed Paediatric Occupational Therapist in private practice, specialising in developmental, sensory and coordination issues
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