Catherine Hess learned about making art in college courses and community-based workshops and classes where she lived- first in Rochester NY, and then Boston. She started visiting Wellfleet regularly in the 1970s. In the 1990s Catherine began showing and selling her work in the Washington DC area, where she lived and worked day jobs leading non-profit health policy work.  In 2015, she bought a house with a studio that was built and used by artist Edwin Dickinson. She spent close to half the year there until 2021 when she and her husband moved to Wellfleet year-round. She has shown both her paintings and prints in open, juried and solo exhibits in the DC area and on the Cape. She currently shows her oils at Wellfleet’s The Works Gallery and participates in special exhibits with the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans. In 2026 she will be a guest artist at Gallery 193 in Provincetown. She is a member of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, and the Sail Loft Art Collective, among other organizations.