Cathleen Rehfeld received her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Fine Arts in 1983. After graduating, she worked in Graphic Design for advertising firms and as Art Director for various magazine publications in Austin.

From there she moved to Mexico City where she resided from 1985-1988, she worked as Art Director for the Mexico City News during the catastrophic earthquake in 1985. During that time in Mexico City, she was inspired and influenced by the work of several Mexican artists, Rufino Tamamayo, Orozco, Siqueiros, and Frieda Kahlo. By 1989 she had moved to Quito, Ecuador and was influenced by some of the local artists there.

In 1990 she moved back to the United States, to Oregon and began to reevaluate Graphic Design as a career. She had been to a museum show and found herself captivated by the Machiaoli school of painting. Soon after, she started taking classes at the Seattle Academy of Fine Arts in oil painting and drawing from instructors who had taught at the Art Students League in New York, and other well known painters.

It was not until 1995 that she began to pursue a career in fine art painting, influenced by the natural beauty of her surroundings in Oregon, and the Southern California Plein Air painters, and the work of the Canadian Group of Seven. Cathleen continues to live and paint in Oregon. Cathleen�s works command attention with her painterly approach. She is masterful at the use of both expressive color and subtle values to capture the life, spirit, and essence of her subjects. She is highly skilled in the application of classical methods, and always mindful of the foundation role of light and form. She has been exhibiting her paintings in Galleries and non-profit arts organizations since 1996, including Solo and group exhibitions. She has also had work published in national and regional publications. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States.

To learn more about Cathleen and her work:
e-mail: crehfeld@charter.net