Cathleen Cramer
I am an artist, teacher, and mother based in Chicago, Illinois. After completing my undergrad in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, I went on to earn a Masters in Teaching from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I have taught everything from art history to printmaking to textiles to painting at Chicago Public Schools and Marwen, a non-profit art school in Chicago’s gallery district. My educational philosophy is grounded in critical theory and social justice as well as a commitment to the Teaching for Artistic Behavior framework. My artistic practice is rooted in play. After years of mothering small children, I found myself yearning for the same energized focus I observed in my kids while they played. Through collage, I am able to achieve that sense of spontaneity and flexibility while being fully immersed in the process of making. The materials I choose to manipulate connect very personally to domestic life and motherhood, often springing directly from my children’s artwork and writing. The result of these playful experiments are compositions that memorialize the fragments of my daily life and give them a new and fresh significance
