The multidisciplinary artist moves between painting, pottery, murals and whatever medium happens to capture her attention next. With a background in environmental science, Hexes fills that work with animals, flowers, and fantastical creatures, drawing inspiration from the complicated relationship between nature and industry in the Northern Ontario city she calls home.

Those worlds converged in Four Elements, the public artwork she created for Up Here Festival’s Power Up Project in 2025. Inspired by Sudbury’s history of environmental destruction and recovery, the piece transformed a hydro box into a colourful meditation on nature, balance and humanity’s place within it. 

This summer, she’s returning to Up Here on a much bigger canvas.

Founded in 2015, the independent urban art and emerging music festival transforms Sudbury each summer through large-scale murals, installations, pop-up performances and concerts in unexpected spaces across the city. For Up Here 12, running Aug. 14 to 16, Hexes joins June, La Pupila and Miskopwagan Asin as one of four artists taking on the festival’s large-scale murals.

Ahead of the festival, RANGE caught up with Cat Hexes to talk about environmental science, fantastical whimsy, Sudbury’s strange beauty and what happens when humans forget their place in the natural world.

For anyone discovering your work for the first time, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are, what you make, and how you ended up doing what you do?

I’m a silly goose and I like to make stuff. I bounce between mediums and projects. I usually just get an idea and follow through — some of the time, lol. My half-done projects are getting out of hand. While I do enjoy being a goof, I am deeply introspective and sensitive. I also love learning and trying new things. It’s fun to see what I am able to create.

What’s your relationship with Sudbury, and how has living and creating there shaped you as an artist?

I love Sudbury. The nature is unreal. The old industrial areas and crumbling infrastructure have a real charm to me. The tenacity of nature trying to reclaim the area is inspiring.

The winters are long and can be mentally challenging at times, but they allow for rest and deep immersion in creative projects.

Your work moves between painting, pottery, murals and other mediums, but there’s a recognizable world of nature, monsters, dreams and magic running through it. Where does that visual language come from?

My educational background and career are in the environmental science field, so nature and sustainability are always at the forefront of my mind. I like to experiment with visual mediums for creative expression and develop connections within the community.

Fantastical whimsy is the core of my being. It makes me incredibly happy, so that’s what I like to surround myself with. The ideas just emerge from my interests.

I actually got into pottery because I took an online course about Egyptology for fun. I was so fascinated by how long ceramics can last and that they are used to understand cultures of the past. I hope someone finds the things I make in 3,000 years and it offers some connection to humanity.

Your Four Elements piece uses the four elements and their guardians to explore balance and perseverance. How did that concept develop?

When I start a project, I usually don’t have much of a plan and just make some doodles and see what happens. As things begin to take shape, I develop a story and think a lot about symbology and what the piece is trying to represent.

It is like my conscious mind and unconscious mind are having a conversation and the art is the end result. Creativity is weird.

In my Four Elements piece I did for Up Here in 2025, I wanted to use creatures with strong symbolism but also have ties to Sudbury: the wolf for earth, fish for water and crane for air. Public art feels important to me as a platform for people to become more engaged with their city and connect to its history and surroundings.

Sudbury’s history with mining, acid rain, environmental devastation and eventual recovery is woven directly into the piece. How did you approach turning that history into a larger story about humanity’s relationship with nature?

It started as just wanting to paint a wolf, then the story told itself. I kept weaving and drawing, balancing aesthetics, shapes and meaning. My brain likes to connect patterns and associations. I mostly just let it do its thing.

There’s a striking detail where the natural guardians continue to bloom, while the humans don’t. What do you hope people take from that contrast?

The hope is that people notice the details and can use the other elements to discover the story. It is a cautionary tale to respect the balance of nature and live in harmony.

Humans as the guardians of fire is a great responsibility. Fire has the capacity for good but also has very destructive powers. Fire is symbolic of industry, feelings of greed and anger, but also heats our homes and cooks our meals.

At the end of the day, if we aren’t aware of this balance, we will rot from the inside out, while the planet will continue on without us.

Up Here has turned so much of Sudbury into an enormous outdoor gallery. What do you hope someone walking past your work years from now takes away from it?

I really hope it gets people thinking about our city, the history, the nature and how we can continue to take those lessons and make Sudbury a better, healthier city.

With my work, I try to use more universal, simplistic symbols and colours to capture immediate thoughts and emotions. If not, hopefully they appreciate the whimsy and splashes of colour that continue to spread throughout the city.

Up Here 12 takes over Sudbury, Ontario, Aug. 14 to 16, 2026, with more than 50 concerts, live creation of large-scale murals, immersive installations and pop-up performances throughout the city. Cat Hexes joins June, La Pupila and Miskopwagan Asin as this year’s large-scale muralists.

Weekend passes, the full lineup, and festival information are available at uphere.com.