CHRONOLOGY

4th June, 1958 - Born in Wimbledon to David and Jane Gardam. Although she was christened Catharine Mary, she was known through her childhood as Mary.

1970-76 - St. Paul’s Girl’s School, London.

1977-81 - St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University (B.A. Hons. in Modern History).

1981 - Changed her name from Mary to Kitty.

1981-83 - The Courtauld Institute of Art, London (M.Phil, specialising in Romanesque and Gothic architecture).

1982 - Published ‘Good Morning Birds’ (London, Julia Macrae Books).

1984 - Published ‘The Animals’ Christmas’ (London, Walker Books).

1984-87 - Researched the historic buildings and ancient monuments of Lincolnshire for English Heritage.

1985 - Married Christopher Nicholson.

1987 - Moved to Donhead St. Mary, on the Wiltshire-Dorset border.

1988 - Her son, Hugh, born.

1990 - Published ‘Restorations of the Temple Church, London’ (British Archaeological Association).

1993 - Her daughter, Helen, born.

1998-99 - Trained in Botanical Art at Kew.

2000 - Exhibited Royal Horticultural Society, London.

2000-03 - Exhibited Hortus Gallery, London.

2002 - Exhibited Royal Horticultural Society, London. RHS Gold Medal.

2002 - Published ‘TheAcanthus in Architecture’ - Hortus No.61 (Spring 2002), and ‘Plants in Gothic’ - Hortus No.63 (Autumn 2002).

2003 - Published ‘Roses in Architecture’ - Hortus No.66 (Summer 2003).

2004 - Exhibited Royal Horticultural Society, London. RHS Gold Medal.

2004 - Published ‘The Fruit and Flowrs of Grinling Gibbons’ - Hortus No.70.

2006 - Exhibited Royal Horticultural Society, London. RHS Gold Medal.

2006-11 - Fellow of Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society.

2007 - Exhibited Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth.

2007 - 12th International Exhibition, Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
www.huntbotanical.org/admin/uploads/hibd-12t-int-cat.pdf

2008 - ‘Interrupted by Cancer - recovering from the flail?’ shortlisted for Jerwood Drawing Prize.

2009 - ‘After the Storm’ shortlisted for Jerwood Drawing Prize.

2009 - Group Exhibition Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens.

2011-12 - Shirley Sherwood Collection touring exhibition.

30th April, 2011 - Died in Shaftesbury, Dorset

22nd June 2011 - The Guardian obituary.

5th July 2011 - The Guardian, Country Diary, Paul Evans.

8th July, 2011 - Daily Telegraph obituary.

1 July 2012 - One-day retrospective in her studio in Donhead St. Mary.

2012 - ‘Some Get More Eaten Up Than Others’ , St. John’s College, Oxford (solo retrospective exhibition).

2013 - ‘Treasures from a hidden garden’ - Florilegium Society, Chelsea Physic Garden (group exhibition)

2013 - Catharine Nicholson’s picture ‘The Viable’, features as the front cover for a new volume of poetry, ‘Light’, by the award-winning Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa, published in Ontario by Pedlar Press. See: www./lpg.ca/BB/LightJoint In 2014 ‘Light’ won the Trillium Award for Poetry.

2014 - ‘Botanical Art in the 21st century’, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (group exhibition). See: www.kew.org

2015 - ‘London’s Secret Garden’ - Florilegium Society, Chelsea Physic Garden (group exhibition). www.amazon.co.uk

2019 - ‘Worth A Thousand Words’ – Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society (group exhibition)