Catherine Cross Uehara

Tribe: Uchinanchu / Hapa / Okinawan American
Based In: Bremerton, WA
Email: ccuehara@gmail.com
Social Media: @ccuehara
Website: catherinecrossuehara.com

About the Art
At what point in the narrative arc of our life stories do we speak about why we do what we do? When someone asks! I think it’s an old, old, old compulsion—like way back to when we were birds, or at least like them—collecting things to line our dens and then suddenly, for one reason or another, having to leave. Something like that happened to me recently after the long, slow death of my father. And then not even knowing whether there had been a funeral, cut off from family by bad feelings, and then Christopher Hoff passed and I moved into his sun-drenched loft in Pioneer Square. I had to figure out how to mourn and remember in my own way. The installation between you & me & The Ancestors is an homage to my beloved apartment, which will be demolished to make way for the new Chief Seattle Club. Although it was difficult at first, I’m glad that by leaving the building, the Chief Seattle Club will be able to lift many Native people out of homelessness. What a gift it has been to have a good reason to let go.

About the Artist
Catherine was born June 8, 1971 in Berkeley California at 11:11am. She attended Malcolm X Elementary School, Berkeley High, UCDavis, and received her MFA in painting from Hunter College in 2000. She has at least twenty years of experience Art Handling, Packing, and Logistics, and she has personally painted the walls of at least 5 Puget Sound area museums.