Best of Caitlin Connolly
Caitlin Connolly is an artist and a writer who currently lives in Provo, Utah with her husband and two sons. Since graduating in 2009 from the University of Utah with a BFA in Painting and Drawing she has passionately pursued and cultivated her creative path. Driven by a curiosity of femininity, her work explores the deficit of the divine feminine and paradoxical themes of duality.
“I like to think of myself as a seeker,” Connolly said in a special segment for BYUtv. “As somebody who is just looking for more.”
Watch the entire segment HERE.
In the interview, Connolly describes her affinity for using a triangle shape in many of her characterizations of women in her work.
“I like shapes,” Connolly said in the video. I’m like a 35-year-old three-year-old.”
She finds a lot of symbolism and meaning from the triangle shape.
“The bottom part of the triangle is this solid grounding aspect,” Connolly continued. “There’s one side of it that sits very firmly on the ground. Yet there’s still one angle of it that points towards the sky. I like to think about growth. If the lines keep expanding, then it does have this regenerative, ancestral experience to it.”
Connolly’s art is often a reflection of her personal life. Her seven-year struggle with infertility informed the subject matter of many of her works of art. In article for Deseret News, Connolly said:
“A lot of my paintings looked at the joy of motherhood, the struggle with motherhood, and I think that was a lot of me coming to terms with, ‘What would this be like if this was my life? What would it be like to have kids?’ ” Connolly recalls.
She goes on to add:
“One thing I have learned through exploring themes of womanhood and motherhood is that having children or not having children is such a central and emotional journey for women,” Connolly says. “Some women have children when they don’t want to, some women want to have children and they can’t, some women lose their children, some women have children and don’t like being mothers, some women love being mothers — it’s such a personal and unique experience.
“I feel very grateful for my experience with infertility and with fertility. My chapter of infertility was both difficult and very refining, and it prepared me for motherhood in a way that was very important and necessary for me.”
In conclusion, Connolly said:
“I've also learned that mortality is difficult. My painting process reflects that experience. I work in a very subtractive and additive process. I build things up with paint and then I sand them down. I will spend hours and hours on a painting only to take it into my woodshop days or months later and sand it down (parts or the whole) to begin again. And it is this play, between the building and the removing of what isn't working, that produces my favorite paintings. It is a very symbolic and healing process for me on a personal level and reminds me that it is OK that I am a work in progress. I need experiences that sand me down and refine me, and I will have other experiences that build me back up, and I know that over time I am progressing and that is good.”
Read the full article HERE.
Take a look at some of her latest work, available on LatterDayHome.com (Best of: Caitlin Connolly)
A limited edition titled “Woman Learning.” This is signed, numbered and titled. Your print will be one of a set of only 200.
In this piece, titled “Us with Them and Them with Us,” Caitlin Connolly bridges a gap between family in this life and family in the next life. A beautiful depiction of the ancestors who wait for us on the other side and who are always watching out for us in this life.
Another limited edition, “A Believing Woman” is printed with archival inks on premium Velvet Fine Art paper. Signed, numbered, and titled - your print will be one of a set of only 300. A Gorgeous rendition of a woman kneeling at Christ’s feet.