Cynthia Lizardi

Artist Statement

The goal of my artwork is to illustrate emotional moments that shape us. As an artist, I developed symbolic art influenced by dreams, psychology, and mythology. I use limited acrylic palettes and texture to enhance the meaning of each piece. My favorite textures are sand and pine needles but I have also added things like plastic, tissue paper, and sea glass.
Included in this show, This Thing Called Life, are works from my Odyssey and Cancer series.
In my Odyssey Series, I highlight turning points in my life with literal and abstract imagery to discuss the power and stigma of mental health, and the resiliency of human life. It is also my journey as an artist.
I reflect on my family's memories about cancer in my Cancer Series. I am a childhood cancer survivor and my father passed away from lung cancer in 2016. I want to use this series as a way to give hope through painting. To that end, I intend to donate a portion of the proceeds raised from this series to fund cancer research and assistance programs helping families going through treatment and/or loss.

Biography

I graduated from Pinellas County Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2002 and in 2006 obtained my Bachelor's in Art Studio with a Psychology Minor from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. For 10 years, I worked full-time at a mail marketing company while exhibiting, painting and etching glass part-time. In 2015, I began overseeing exhibits for Tampa Regional Artists on their Board of Directors. I left my employer in 2016 to pursue art full-time, volunteer at TRA and raise my son.

Since high school, I have been fascinated with the healing power of arts, and addressing mental health concerns through painting. In 2017, I was selected to attend the Core Skills Workshop presented by Creative Capital with the Division of Cultural Affairs and Citizens for Florida Arts, Inc. in Jupiter, FL. Following that workshop, I began work on my Cancer Series. Two paintings from that series were included in "Voices & Visions: Standing on the Bridge Between Health and Disease" at The Art Center Highland Park in Highland Park, Illinois in 2018.

In October 2019, I was featured in the Daily Commercial in Lake County, Florida for my entry "Pieces of You," in Artisan's on Fifth's breast cancer "Bra-Vo" art fundraiser exhibit. My work and others in the exhibit raised $7601 that year for low-cost diagnostic testing for Lake County men and women with breast cancer.

In 2020, my piece, "Lumpia Lesson", created at the beginning of the pandemic, was included in Polk Museum of Art's "Hindsight: 2020" online exhibit, and later in their 2021 "Hindsight: A Year Later" exhibition at their museum.

My cancer series is still my main focus in painting, but I am teaching myself Corel Painter to transition my symbolic painting into the digital art medium. On the side, I bind books with upcycled materials, play video games with my son, and enjoy anime with my loving husband.

Exhibition History (CV)