Fonds 91 - Catherine Schmid fonds

Catherine Rank Schmid is a Canadian artist based in France. She was born in 1942 in Toronto, Ontario, to Margery Butler and Harold Rank. In 1968 she married Stephen Yeomans. They divorced in 1988. Their son Edward (Ted) Yeomans resides in Peterborough, Ontario. In 1995 she married Gérard Schmid in Switzerland. He passed away in 2003 in France.

Schmid studied Modern Languages at Victoria College, University of Toronto from 1961 to 1965 and received an Honours BA in French and German. During this period, she took part-time courses at the Ontario College of Art, studying painting with Aba Bayefsky. After graduation she taught in Bad Godesberg (Bonn) Germany in Amos Comenius Gymnasium, a Pestalozzi school, travelling extensively as well. Returning to Toronto, she completed her diploma at the Ontario College of Education and taught French, German and Art for many years in Secondary Schools in Toronto and Peterborough Ontario. While in Peterborough she was a founding member of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

During a Sabbatical leave in 1984, Schmid spent several months in France and Germany drawing and painting. In 1987 she exhibited her work at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and gave a lecture in the Department of Philosophy of Education on the theme of the creative experience and its relationship to the development of learning. She also exhibited at The Art Gallery of Peterborough and in 1988 at the Here and Now Gallery in Toronto. In 1990 she moved to Saint Gallen, Switzerland, teaching Art at the Institut auf dem Rosenberg, an international private school. Her experiences travelling and living in different surroundings have been a compelling influence on her philosophy and in her artistry.

Schmid has also exhibited internationally. In 1989, she painted in Indonesia and The Cross Cultural Institute in Jakarta exhibited her drawings and paintings “Indonesia: the first impression of a Canadian artist”, sponsored by the Canadian Embassy. In 1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art Nyoman Gunarsa in Yogyakarta invited her to be Artist in Residence, where she had an exhibition “Explorations in Indonesia”. Her work is held in the collections of Victoria University at the University of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation in Toronto, Crédit Suisse in Saint Gallen, Switzerland, the Agung Rai Gallery in Bali, Indonesia, the Art Gallery of Ontario in the art rental collection, and in many private collections.

Since 1994, she has resided in Provence in the south of France, where she has her studio and has given private instruction to students from many countries.

Schmid’s works reflect the elements of chance, surprise, capturing a world full of possibilities, originating in her broad travel experience and exposure to many cultures. Always “looking”, suddenly she “sees”. She is especially interested in the contrast of light and darkness and in architectural forms. The inner space of the mind: a thought, a word, a feeling, are all part of her creative approach.