Catarina Garcia
Fine artist, illustrator, and pattern designer, based in Lisbon. Over 10 years of dedicated practice between authorial art and professional creative services.
Lisboa, Portugal/PT · EN/Galeria Trindade · PHABRIK · Art Rewards · Mercayle
Who am I
An artist living between two worlds
Two worlds, One Artist
Get to know both sides of my work
My personal path is divided between authoral art and professional creative services. Each of them has its own about me page with detailed information.
FINE ART
Artist Statement
Catarina Garcia’s practice moves between figuration and abstraction, with observational drawing forming the foundation of much of her work. Rather than following predetermined compositions, she develops each piece through an intuitive process in which forms, relationships, and meanings gradually emerge, balancing intention with discovery.
At the core of her practice is an exploration of how visual language can give form to experiences that exist only in our inner lives. Drawing on themes such as music, thought, and perception, she investigates how painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture can translate intangible experience into visual form. Rather than illustrating ideas, her works seek to evoke states of mind, inviting viewers into spaces where perception, imagination, and contemplation converge.
Characterised by vibrant colour, expressive line, and compositions that oscillate between structure and spontaneity, her practice creates visual environments that encourage slow looking and personal interpretation.
More recently, Garcia has expanded this investigation into ceramic sculpture, exploring how the formal and conceptual principles that underpin her two-dimensional practice can be translated into three-dimensional space while maintaining the same dialogue between materiality, perception, and inner experience.
Catarina Garcia is a Portuguese artist, illustrator and designer whose work moves between painting, drawing, illustration and surface pattern design. With a background in Fine Arts – Painting (University of Lisbon) and a Master’s in Drawing, her artistic practice blends vibrant abstraction with figurative elements, creating expressive, colorful worlds full of rhythm and movement.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Lisbon and Oporto, including solo exhibitions at Trindade Gallery and Novo Século Gallery. Beyond painting, she has illustrated children’s books, scientific publications and CD covers, always bringing her strong sense of color, line and storytelling.
Catarina is currently expanding her artistic practice through three complementary courses: the Repertoire course in surface pattern design and the Print to Pattern online course , where she’s developing collections of contemporary patterns for different applications, and a Creative Ceramics Technician Annual course (CENCAL), exploring traditional and experimental approaches to tile and object painting and developing knowledge in pottery, sculpture and decoration, in order to translate her work from 2D to 3D. These studies allows her to merge her background in fine arts with new creative possibilities, bridging drawing, painting, ceramics, and design.
Education
-2025 – Creative Ceramics Technician annual course at CENCAL, Caldas da Rainha
-2025 – Repertoire online course on Surface Pattern Design
-2020/21 – Post-Graduation in Visual Arts Teaching, Lusófona University
-2019/20 – Graphic Design; Etic – School of Technologies, Inovation and Creation, Lisbon, Portugal
-2015 – Short Summer Course “The Expanded Field of Drawing”, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK
-2009-12 – Master in Drawing; Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon, Portugal
-2006-08 – Degree in Fine Arts – Painting; Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon, Portugal
-2007/08 – Erasmus Scholarship; Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino, Italy
-2003-06 – Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts – Painting; Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon, Portugal
Latest News
Catarina is a freelance artist, illustrator, graphic designer and teacher.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
-Março 2022 – “Contemplações” – Trindade Gallery, Oporto
-March 2014 – “Musique” – Trindade Gallery, Oporto
-September – December 2012 – “Riacho de Prata” Illustrations – MAEDS Museum, Setúbal
-Febuary 2011 – “Imagined Dream” – Novo Século Gallery, Lisboa
-November 2011 – “Imagined Dream” – Trindade Gallery, Porto
-January 2010 – “Vivências” – Novo Século Gallery, Lisbon
COLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS (selection)
-November 2011 – Art Fair “Arte Lisboa 2011”, Galeria Trindade Stand, Lisboa
-August – September 2012 – Douro’s Printmaking Biennial
-December 2014 – Present – “National Group Exhibition 70 Cavaquinhos 70 Artistas”, 10 different Portuguese cities, including Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon
-August 2015 – “The Expanded Field of Drawing – A Selection of Recent Works”, Slade School of Art, London, UK
-Several group exhibitions at the Novo Século Gallery, Lisbon; and at Trindade Gallery, Oporto, from 2010 – present.
EDITIONS (selection)
Fine Arts:
2012 – “Composição”, Etching, edited by Centro Português de Serigrafia.
Scientific Illustration:
2015 – Scientific illustration Opuntia ficus-indica featured in “Exotic Fruits and Nuts of the New World”, Odilio Duarte and Robert Paull, Cabi.org
Children’s Books / Livros Infantis:
2012 – “Riacho de Prata”, Children’s book (illustrations), Trindade Gallery Edition
2013 – “O velho que pintava pombas”, Children’s book (illustrations), Opera Omnia Edition
CD Covers:
Roland Digh, “A scribe of melody and rhyme” (2014)
Vincent Poag, “For the Girls” (2014)
VOLK, “Boutique Western Swing Compositions” (2015)
WORK EXPERIENCE
-October 2012/3 – Illustration Workshops, Teacher at the 5th and 6th National Illustrator’s Meeting in São João Da Madeira, Portugal
December 2012 – Invited Teacher at the drawing course “Line to line”, which was part of the Drawing Triennial Event, MAEDS Museum, Setúbal, Portugal
-July 2010 – Visual Arts children’s teacher (painting/drawing/sculpture/illustration) – Pedro Serrenho Fine Arts School
-November 2011 – Public attendance at the Lisbon Art Fair “Arte Lisboa 2011”, Trindade Gallery Stand
-August 2010 – Public attendance at Pedro Serrenho Art Gallery, Lisbon.
-2007/8 – Resident artist and public attendance at Art Jammers Galery, Lisbon
Always eager to learn new things, is currently upgrading all her knowledge using online platforms to learn and also regular attendance of classes.
My Contact Info
Based in: Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: catarinagarciaartist@gmail.com
+(351) 916280540
