Catherine Sedgwick

My background

I’m lucky enough to be able to say that I spend my working days doing my two favourite jobs: being a doctor and a printmaker. I went to medical school a little later in life, having studied Mathematics with Philosophy first time around at Kings College London. After nine ‘wilderness years’ in industry, I went to St George’s Medical School and fell in love with medicine, and now I specialise in Endocrinology and Diabetes.

I was fortunate to be exposed to art from an early age. My Dad spent his spare time painting in oils and etching, which he also learned at Richmond Art School, where I do my printmaking 35 years later! We would often sketch together and I recall several daytrips to Cookham to see the work of Dad’s favourite artist, Stanley Spencer. For several years Dad lived in the art studio of his close friend, artist Renzo Galeotti, whose brilliant and uncompromising works formed a strong impression on me from an early age. 

Becoming a printmaker

In 2022 I started a printmaking class at Richmond Art School and soon caught the printmaking bug! I quickly moved to two classes a week and haven’t stopped since. The studio environment is really important to me because it stimulates so many fresh ideas. I feel honoured to be creating work alongside so many talented artists and to have guidance from my influential and encouraging print tutors, including artist Daisy Jarrett. 

Initially my preferred medium was screenprinting but this rapidly evolved into many other printmaking methods. Now I enjoy collagraph, photopolymer etching, cyanotype, monoprinting and polyester lithography. This variety enables me to pick the best medium for the image I wish to create and I enjoy switching between methods according to my circumstances. 

My current work 

I recently completed a series of cyanotypes, inspired by photographs I had taken of scenes and objects that fascinated me. From Bethnal Green gasworks to a beautiful bouquet of reflexed roses given to me by a fellow artist friend, to moments captured on holidays including low tide on Aldeburgh beach and a cafe scene in Venice, from a photograph I took when I was 14. I experimented with tea toning the cyanotypes to achieve new deeper, blacker tones. 

I’m currently working on my biggest screenprint to date, an A2 sized swimming pool. I was excited to find that I could create the illusion of refracted light on the water using a collagraph print of scrunched aluminium foil tape, before inverting the image and using it in a screenprint. I love swimming outdoors at my local open air pool and have always been drawn to water. 

Exhibitions 

I’m honoured to have exhibited at various exhibitions including: the ‘ING Discerning Eye’ exhibition at Mall Galleries (2023, 2025); the Royal Society of Printmakers ‘Small But Mighty’ exhibition (2024, 2025) and their ‘International Original Print’ exhibition (2025), both at Bankside Gallery; the ‘Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair’ (2024); as well as ‘Watts Gallery’ (2025) with Richmond Printmakers.

I have a few exhibitions coming up with Richmond Printmakers, including a show at ‘The Ice House’ gallery in Holland Park this Summer. 

I also exhibit with Richmond Art Society and Parkshot Printmakers, a collective of talented artists from Richmond Art School. 

My inspiration 

It’s impossible to choose a favourite artist but I’m certainly inspired by several artists including Tirzah Garwood, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Sarah Van Niekerk and Eric Ravilious. 

I find inspiration in nature, literature and elements of modern life. I’m particularly drawn to insects, including beetles, wasps and moths. I love the ancient Greek, Roman and Norse myths as well as the statues that have been inspired by them. I’m also drawn to architectural structures, as well as those in degeneration and decay. Almost anything will capture my imagination!

What printmaking means to me

Printmaking started as a happy distraction while my children were at school but it has evolved into one of the most integral parts of my life. I hadn’t quite appreciated the importance of creativity before I began producing work regularly. I jested with a friend that printmaking feels like I’m pressing ‘print’ and getting a physical print out of my imagination! Not only has it been the most beautiful way to process emotions, including the more challenging elements of the medical side of my working week, but it has gently seen me through physical illness and nurtured me back to health. Seeing my printmaking friends in the studio is the highlight of my week!

@Catherine_Sedgwick_Art