Cara Gordon - Artist of the Month, September 2022

Cara Gordon was born in Belfast and studied fine art at Newcastle University. She has exhibited widely throughout Ireland and her work is held in many public and private collections. Since returning to live in Belfast over 10 years ago, Cara has often returned to the urban landscape as a source of inspiration and a means of artistic expression. Through a process of collating drawings and photographs, she builds a structure of a piece in collage, working out markings and colour scale. Recently, Cara has begun to transfer these collaged studies into the medium of paint.

‘Thaw’ is part of Arts Council of Northern Ireland collection. It is based on the Palm House in the Botanic Gardens, and the title of the painting refers not only to the melting snow and resurgence of new life, but also to that particular time in 2021 when we were emerging from a second pandemic lockdown, and many of us were feeling disorientated and unsure as to how things would pan out. With more knowledge and understanding of the pandemic there was a growing sense of hope and regeneration, we were moving from one cycle to another. This piece won the Perpetual Gold Medal at the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Annual Exhibition in 2021.

Further information about Cara and her work can be found at www.caragordon.com