[1927-2026]

A long-time resident of Fredericton, Catherine Hale’s career as an artist was distinguished by her use of found objects and non-traditional art materials to create assemblages and sculptural and fabric works. Her artworks illuminated her interest in feminism, politics, the Gothic art period, and the influence of favourite poets and writers.

 "Hale’s art is characterized by a dark, sublime beauty that wouldn’t seem out of place amongst the imagery of a contemporary Goth sub-culture. Solemn altar forms and shrines, black veils, and casket-like structures transport the viewer to a symbolic funerary realm. The faded ruins of history, the Victorian cult of mourning, and the secrets of the grave are intimated through careful juxtaposition of discarded objects and antique lace from a bygone era." He goes on to say that Hale's art "poses a critical challenge to a contemporary society that increasingly reinforces denial and avoidance of one of the most essential existential facts of human existence, the inevitability of the 'dying of the light'.” Terry Graff, Catherine Hale: Between the Spirit and the Dust