Catherine Breer: Portland Art Gallery November 2025

Catherine Breer is a beloved Maine artist long recognized for colorful landscapes and luminous scenes of coastal living. Her paintings often capture fleeting instances when the sun has transformed a view— long lines crossing a building or reflections dancing on harbor water. “I am always looking for that moment when the light hits just right, the shadows lengthen, and ordinary objects become something quite extraordinary,” she says.

Catherine earned her B.A. in Art History from Emory University, and also studied painting and drawing at the Atlanta College of Art. She later attended graduate school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Since 2000, she has exhibited widely throughout New England, and her work is held in private and public collections worldwide. In addition to her work as a painter, she has had a long career as a graphic designer for L.L.Bean. Her design background brings a natural precision to her work and has given her an instinct for balance and structure.

The Maine coast offers Catherine an endless source of inspiration — the rocky shoreline, dark green ocean, verdant valleys, working harbors, and small towns. She moves fluidly between series, from reflections on the water to studies of cloud-filled skies or the warm glow of dusk through a window. “I never run out of things to paint in Maine,” she says. “It’s endless.”

Catherine spent her early life in Seoul, South Korea, where her parents worked as Methodist missionaries and professors. Immersed in Korean culture and language for almost two decades, she developed a deep appreciation for the harmony and vibrancy of Buddhist temple imagery, which continues to inform her love of color and pattern. She credits those formative years with shaping both her artistic vision and her openness to different perspectives.

She lives and works in Freeport, where she remains deeply connected to the coastal landscape and the creative community around her.

Learn more about Catherine Breer on Radio Maine.