Femme Reframed

The adage says that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to CATHRYN O’DONNELL, a contemporary figurative artist and owner of the recently opened Cathryn O’Donnell Gallery in downtown Wilmington, there is always more than meets the eye. It’s just up to the artist to bring it all to the surface. 

This concept guides her work, which includes paintings and collages of landscapes, paintings of what she describes as fat-bottomed birds, and empowering abstract female figures meant to inspire body positivity and explore the endless layers that contribute to the broader scope of female identities. 

“You don’t see a lot of abstracted figurative work. In portraits, you’ll see a finely detailed face,” she says. “Mine may not include all of that detail, but my focus is on expression and emotion and the story I’m trying to tell vis-à-vis that face. Specifically, my work is about women: our longing, our suffering, our conformity, our desire to be seen and acknowledged.” 

Originally from Buffalo, New York, and formerly a professor of Spanish and literature at Fullerton College in California’s Orange County, O’Donnell began painting in earnest in 2020 after relocating to the Wilmington area to be near family. Here, she was able to keep acting, designing sets, and directing through community theater, just as she had in California.  

She also enjoyed displaying portraits of the residents of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie as part of the set at the Brunswick Little Theater in Southport. For her, it was a welcome distraction from the stress and uncertainty of the COVID pandemic and a refreshing change of pace. 

“It was time to do something else,” she says. “I thought I’d see what happened and start another adventure.” 

After showing her work in every local exhibition and gallery she could find, she says she noticed a few patterns among the talent on display. Namely, she felt for the largely underrepresented or unrecognized artists who only got to show a piece or two at a time, making it difficult for art lovers and fellow artists alike to really get to know them or their work. She decided it was time to break that cycle. 

“At first, it was just to promote myself,” she says, “but it became about finding and showing the work of artists who think outside the box with other subjects, other themes, and a variety of materials.” 

Last summer, she sought a place to lease as a sort of creative experiment. It had to be in a central location, she says, and convenient to the monthly gallery crawl through downtown Wilmington. She didn’t expect to find what she was looking for in a second-floor space at 244 Princess Street, but once she did, she fell for its vibe. After some minor restructuring to make it one long display space, installing all the appropriate wiring mechanisms for hanging and displaying different pieces, and placing furniture and rugs to provide a sense of comfort and ambience, O’Donnell was ready for the gallery’s soft opening in November. 

Since its grand opening this January, the gallery’s objective has been to promote visibility and growth. O’Donnell facilitates a mentorship program in which artists pitch her their work through social media for the opportunity to participate in a program that spotlights a new theme every two months. This helps artists focus on their style or medium as it applies to an upcoming theme, or challenges them to step out of their comfort zones and try something different. It’s designed to be flexible, depending on who O’Donnell can get in touch with or find on her own. March and April have a storyteller theme, and she’s already got Raleigh-based artist KELLI SCOTT lined up, among others. 

“A lot of young people come this way for comic books, tattoos, a night out,” she says, “so I think it’d be great if this could make Princess Street kind of like another little Front Street for them.”  

It’s not a typical gallery that offers a store on-site, but those who are interested in O’Donnell’s prints, original paintings, and merchandise such as totes, mugs, or greeting cards can order them on her website. The gallery is open for the Fourth Friday Gallery Nights that are organized by the arts council and take place monthly or by appointment. And at any given time, patrons might see more traditional landscapes, or something a little more off-the-wall – sometimes literally. The gallery, she says, is currently showing some watercolors, but also gourd art complete with intricate latticework, mono prints with botanical themes, glass-fused and beaded mosaics, and still-lifes, and even clay pottery pieces that are shaped not as bowls or cups, but as imitation human heads. 

“Whimsy is good,” she says. “You’ll see the unexpected, and a great deal of color and texture here.” 

Later this year, O’Donnell hopes to invite neighborhood and professional groups, as well as regional social clubs, to tour the gallery in private showings. She’ll offer refreshments and a chance to really experience the unique displays. 

Currently, O’Donnell is working on a series she says is largely inspired by the Wilmington-based La Big Bouche Cabaret. In keeping with her commitment to show real women through her art, she says she admires the incredible strength, power, and self-confidence the performers display. It coincides with the women she’s depicted before, she says, but with a new energy and flair that transcends stereotypical ideas of beauty. 

“I have to create art my own way, from my own soul. I tried the traditional way, and I still do that sometimes,” O’Donnell says. “But it’s just not me.” 

To view more of Katelynn Watkins’s work, go to k-watkins.com/bylines.

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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