Cat L'Hirondelle is a mixed-media feminist artist who lives and works in Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Cat studied jewelry making with an established Vancouver Jewelry designer. She has studied ceramic making and fabric arts as well.  She started attending the BFA program at Emily Carr Art School in midlife.   During that time period, she was diagnosed with cerebella ataxia thus forcing her to leave art school and make some major changes in her life.  Cat works together with her life partner, Colin Bryant or her assistant, to produce her pieces of art.  Cat has always dreamt in 3D and regardless of her condition she is compelled to see her visions come alive.  She tells Colin or her assistant her vision and they translate it into form with their hands.

 

As a child growing up on a Vancouver Island farm, Cat had the ocean, animals (wild and tame) and forests to inspire her extremely active imagination.  Armed with her vast collection of found objects it was natural for her to make art.  Currently, she draws her inspiration from her life.  As an art activist, much of her work is a message from the margins to the mainstream, giving voice to the “Other”.  As an other-abled person, she frequently experiences being trapped by society's limited views and labels.  Her work is intended to get people thinking about their limited perceptions about each other, and to see the humanity in each other.  Cat likes to work with metal, bone, paper, car parts, beads, etc.  Lately, she is drawn to working with metal. Metal speaks her experience of being “Other Abled” (rather than “Disability”).  Like Cat, Metal is a survivor that is resilient, brilliant, strong, versatile, malleable and interacts with the elements.

 

Cat has sold her jewellry through her business, “Cat's Meow”.  Her art work has been shown internationally.