Catarina Pinto Leite was born in March 1963, in Lisbon – where she still lives today. In 1990, she began her artistic career by taking a two-year course in Decorative Painting with Professor Joana Valdez. During this period, she worked as a restorer of painting at the Conservation and Restoration Workshop (Oficina de Conservação e Restauro – OCRE). She was a member of the multidisciplinary team responsible for the restoration of artworks in the studio, as well as in situ in churches, palaces and monuments. She performed this activity for seven years, and this experience proved to be the great impulse for her subsequent career, arousing in her the need to create works of her own. By working with different materials on a daily basis, she was able to develop a profound knowledge and understanding of their individual behaviours and potential.
In the meantime, she also studied Drawing and Art History at the National Society of Fine Arts (Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes – SNBA) for three years, as well as Painting at Arte Ilimitada for five years. She taught Visual Arts at a school in Lisbon for six years and, since 1996, has held various solo and group exhibitions at different venues. Her work is represented in both public and private collections.