Montclair Art Exhibit Will Celebrate Life, Work Of Catherine Kinkade

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the BrassWorks Gallery. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The BrassWorks Gallery is deeply honored to present a memorial exhibition and fundraiser celebrating the life and work of Catherine Kinkade – a painter of extraordinary feeling, a generous and devoted teacher, and one of the most warmly cherished figures in the Montclair arts community for nearly four decades. The community is invited to come celebrate Catherine Kinkade – her art, her generosity, and the irreplaceable mark she left on this place and on the people lucky enough to have known her.

Catherine passed away late last year, and the loss has been felt throughout this community in ways that are still hard to put into words. She left behind a legacy of luminous artwork and an even more extraordinary devotion to the artists and organizations she loved. Among those closest to her heart was Studio Montclair, which she joined in its earliest days – nearly 28 years ago – and served with tireless passion and deep commitment, including decades on its Executive Board. It was Catherine’s own tender wish that a sale and fundraiser be held in her memory to benefit Studio Montclair, and this exhibition is a loving fulfillment of that wish. Through it all, her husband Merwin was by her side – her devoted partner and most steadfast champion.

To stand before Catherine’s paintings is to understand why landscapes called to her for a lifetime. Her work moves between the keenly observed and the deeply felt – plein air studies alive with loose, gestural marks and vibrant color; large atmospheric canvases where hills and dunes dissolve into washes of blue and violet; quieter watercolors where mist and gray settle over fields like memory. Whether she was capturing a Normandy village rooftop, the sweep of storm light over farmland, or the abstract shimmer of snow on rock, she painted the emotional truth of a place alongside its physical one. Her touch was confident and tender in equal measure.

A Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America and a founder of Viridian Print Studio, Catherine worked across pastel, oil, and monotype, exhibiting her paintings at museums, galleries, and international exhibitions throughout her career. Her commissioned landscapes entered the collections of Tiffany, AT&T, Exxon, The Nature Conservancy, and dozens of other corporate and private collectors around the world.

She also gave generously as a teacher – for more than 40 years at the Montclair Art Museum School of Art, and for many years as Artist-in-Residence at Van Vleck Gardens – shaping the next generation of painters with the same warmth and rigor she brought to everything else in her life.

For additional information, contact Studio Montclair at 862-500-1447 orsmi@studiomontclair.org, or visit www.studiomontclair.org.

Studio Montclair is a nonprofit organization of exhibiting professional artists and others committed to the visual arts. Founded in 1997, its mission is to promote culture and education in the visual arts and to encourage emerging artists. With over 450 members from across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Studio Montclair is a vital part of the creative life of the greater Montclair region.

The BrassWorks Gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday from 7 am to 7 pm. Housed in a beautifully restored 1930s industrial building that once served as the George Rutledge Etched Brass Works, the gallery honors Montclair’s rich history while supporting a vibrant contemporary art community.

BrassWorks is located at 105 Grove Street, Montclair, NJ. Originally constructed during the early twentieth century, 105 Grove Street was, for many years, home to the family-owned George Rutledge Etched Brass Works company. The property was converted into a unique professional office building in 2007 and provides space for a community art gallery. Upon learning the site’s heritage as home to a family-owned brass works company, the partners decided to transform the building while honoring its past by naming it BrassWorks on Grove. The present building combines modern amenities with the faithful restoration of the original 1930 architectural details.

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