Dr Cathy Fitzgerald

Unfurling fern at Hollywood forest, Ireland. Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald.

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An Irish-based Aotearoa New Zealander, Dr Cathy Fitzgerald has been living in Ireland, the home of her ancestors, since 1996. Cathy is an independent ecosocial art practitioner, educator, consultant, and international speaker. Cathy was nominated to the professional International EcoArt Network in 2016. She is the Founder-Director of the global HAUMEA.ie ONLINE Ecoliteracy Programme. She has been recognised for her innovative entrepreneurial online training on ecoliteracy and transformative learning approaches for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) with the Earth Charter by the EU Our Thriving Tribe research programme, the UK Climate Cultures Showcase, Green Foundation Ireland, AwakenHub, RTE Lyric FM, and Dublin FM.

Cathy has a background in science research and received a First Class Joint Honours degree in Painting and Irish Art History at the National College of Art & Design (2000), an MA in New Media (Virtual Realities), in 2002. From 2007-10, she was the first ArtLinks.ie Director, managing and developing arts professional development for all art forms, for South East Ireland, fostering an online community of 1400 members.

Cathy's ongoing ecosocial art practice The Hollywood Forest Story (hollywoodforest.com, begun 2008) was the basis for her Creative Practice-led PhD and ebook The Ecological Turn: Living Well with Forests to explain ecosocial art practice using a Guattari ecosophy -action research framework (2018). This work envisions new ecological forestry for Ireland and explains embedded-in-place ecosocial art practice.

Her work has featured in The Irish Times, the US Minding Nature journal, on the UK art.earth network, and in the Routledge 2021 Handbook on Placemaking, and Routledge 2020 book on Creative Engagements with Ecologies of Place: Geopoetics, Deep Mapping and Slow Residencies - by Prof. Mary Modeen and Dr. Iain Biggs. Following a 2020 Irish Arts Council Professional Development Award, Cathy as an ecological artist-educator, is now an accredited ESD-Earth Charter ecopedagogy educator and alumni of Earth Charter International.

Cathy's website: https://haumea.ie

Cathy Fitzgerald at Te Urewera forest park Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Urewera is the homeland of the Tūhoe people. It is the first natural feature to be recognised in Aotearoa New Zealand law as a living person, meaning it owns itself and exists for its own sake. Photo: Martin Lyttle.

Hollywood forest, South Carlow Ireland, the site and muse for Cathy's ongoing Hollywood Forest Story ecosocial art practice: Photo: Martin Lyttle.