Opening Reception: We Wear Layers Collage Show

In her first solo show, Cathy Aster explores the public and private layers women wear at different life stages. Using image transfer and cut-collage techniques, she creates formal and metaphorical transparencies across a series of 14 images. She bathes the scenes in the autumnal glow provided by vintage magazines, then excavates the images for tenderness, risk and danger. She hooks the viewer with nostalgic images, then transforms the image by revealing unseen psychic realms. The women in Aster’s work look away even as they look directly at you; they look directly at you even as they look away.

Cathy Aster is a cut paper collage artist based in Portland, Oregon. After years of experience working in rare book conservation and digital library settings, she spends her time making art and creating community for collage artists. She has shown work at Alberta Street Gallery, Art at the Cave and Taylor Street Kitchen. She is part of the organizing group of the Pacific Northwest Collage Collective.