Cathryn Monro is a professional artist, writer, educator, facilitator and mother of two. She rates mothering as by far the most challenging, creative, important and fulfilling of jobs. Cathryn’s life, training and work combine her creative drive, a commitment to meaningful education, self-inquiry and group learning processes, and yoga and meditation practices.
Cathryn holds a BFA and MFA from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, and has a 30+yr career as a professional artist. Her work includes large scale public and private commissions ranging from bronze and weathering steel works to installations involving 200,000 strung beads, to gallery exhibited sculpture and works in paint, photography, light and drawing.
Following her interest in collaboration and communication processes, Cathryn spent a year training as an actor in Sydney, Australia. It was there, in 1990, that she began her yoga practice.
On return to New Zealand and alongside her studio practice, Cathryn began a 20+yr teaching career in NZ’s premiere tertiary arts institutions. Her interest in education and inquiry-learning prompted 6 years training as a facilitator of active and interactive group process. This lead to work in a variety of settings including workshop facilitator for parents for 2 years with the Anger Change Trust, Playback for Teenagers for youth theatre, and 11 years as scriptwriter for the charity Books In Homes, promoting a love of reading and book ownership to thousands of disadvantaged schoolchildren throughout New Zealand.
In the year 2000 Cathryn gave birth to her first daughter and in 2003 to her second. Cathryn juggled her career and life as a work-at-home mum alongside her studio practice, writing, and facilitation and spent 6 years in hands-on early childhood education with the parent-led Playcentre organisation.
Over the last 10 years Cathryn has worked with tertiary students and professionals leading integrative, group-learning, practice-based inquiry processes, drawing on the experiences of group members to deepen learning, build collaborative relationships and enrich working cultures.
Cathryn lives with her husband and daughters in Wellington, New Zealand.
