We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cathy Martin And Lindsey Ries. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cathy Martin and below.

Cathy Martin and , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

We are working on a joint exhibition for the first time. We will each be showing our own paintings as well as paintings we are doing together. This is something we’ve wanted to do for several years now and are grateful for the opportunity to have the exhibition in the Twin Cities. We cannot wait for people to see our work together.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Cathy: I grew up and live in rural Wisconsin. I started painting farm signs for neighbors when I was in highschool and went to vocational college for drafting. I worked for John Deere for a short period of time and started farming more full-time with my husband when he got sick. My mother and I enjoyed taking art classes in a town close by and I started doing more commission work. About 20 years ago I started doing more of my own, original paintings in a photorealist style and love painting the landscape of rural Wisconsin and also rural architecture. I also started working with a gallery in Milwaukee around the same time, the Tory Folliard Gallery, and continue to be represented by them. I’m very proud of the show Lindsey and I have been working to put together. I still take on occasional commissions.

Lindsey: I grew up on the farm my parents have since passed on to my sister and her family, and I have very fond memories of watching my mom, Cathy, painting in her studio. With her and my dad’s support, I pursued art degrees and have a terminal MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I decided from a young age I wanted to be an artist and I’m thrilled to finally have a show with my mom to exhibit our paintings together. We have a lot of similar interests and approaches to our work, even though how our work develops and our subject matter tends to be different. I’m so proud of our exhibition. I currently work with Gallery360, FUSE, and Gamut Gallery in Minneapolis. I also take commission work.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Cathy: the difficult thing I have to navigate as an artist is being in a rural area. There’s not many, if any, galleries out where we are. There aren’t many funding or grant opportunities in Rural Wisconsin that I can pursue either. Lindsey has helped me try to find some grants to apply for that are for the Midwest, but they’re tough to get. I think society needs to do better with understanding what rural life is actually like (if they haven’t experienced it) and then think of how the arts and culture can benefit rural communities like arts and culture benefit cities and towns. Maybe if there’s more awareness there will be more support and interest for rural artists.

Lindsey: Like my mom said, it’s really hard to get funding for projects or sell your work as a rural artist. I’m very fortunate to live in the Twin Cities and have applied for grants for us to fund projects we have thought of, but we haven’t been successful in getting those grants yet. Springboard For The Arts, based in Saint Paul, has started doing more work in Minnesota rural communities which is exciting to see. I’m hoping to see that support grow to other states, but it’s always hard to see if it will happen based on things are. Basically – fund art projects. Arts and Culture are SO IMPORTANT. And don’t forget about rural communities. Our farmers and rural communities deserve art too.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Cathy: I’m going to let Lindsey answer this one.

Lindsey: Our goal for this exhibition is to highlight our individuality as artists as well as highlight our obvious similar journeys. There is no denying I learned to paint from my mom. I approach building my painting in a similar way, even though I might use different tools. We want to show our work as artists from a family with multiple generations of artists. We’ve grown closer as we worked through planning this exhibition, talking through our ideas, celebrating our differents and being excited for each other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lindseyriesstudio.com
• Instagram: @lindseyriesstudio

Image Credits

All photos by Lindsey Ries and Cathy Martin.