Catherine Flexen's drawing practice explores the interplay between physical states and the conceptual framework of metaphysical states, focusing on location, separation, union, and the gaps between these conditions. By engaging with materials' transformative potential, her work articulates ideas and conveys knowledge through reflective experimentation. Her drawings often manifest as diagrams or meditative pieces, with a current focus on describing light—its ephemeral nature and its capacity to shape perception.

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Operating within the Drawing: Transformative Matter, Material Trace research group at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), Flexen's practice aligns with investigations into material mutability and the impermanence of form and space. Through collaborative research facilitated by the CRAB Drawing Studio and AUB Paper Archive, she intends to interrogate structural stability and processes of change through activities informed by theoretical concerns surrounding materiality as an intermediary between sensory experience and intellectual understanding.

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Her work resonates with broader research themes, including light and the ephemeral, compression of space into surface, and representations of place in transient forms. By embracing alchemical perspectives on transformation, Flexen aims to expand drawing as a medium embodying flux, impermanence, and unseen experiences.