Background -- Cynthia Dollard, Anytime Arts

Artist Statement

Creating beauty has been integral to my life as since earliest memories. This urge to create is intertwined with a desire to explore ever-deepening states of presence, or awakening. The works I create in images and words are an effort to express that exploration.

Since ancient times mystics have used words to speak of a state beyond words. In that sense, these images and words are a continuation of that long tradition of attempting to explain the unexplainable with the best means available.

I first learned the medium of wax resist in a school art project at the age of 12. As I continued to explore other mediums, this ancient method remained a home for my creative expression. Throughout the years, I have applied painterly methods and academic training to the application of wax and dye to cotton fabric with the resulting work being a unique artistic expression.

Creative expression is a two-part process involving both the creator and the viewer. First, the artist conceives the work and gives it life. In my work, the images and words are the result of inner inquiry and bright flashes of obvious absurdity. Once the image is created, then it is strengthened if others are able to observe the work. The viewer adds their own experiences and associations to the image through the act of viewing.

My ultimate goal as an artist is to create works that shift the perceptions of the viewer beyond the actual image- that as they pause to look at an image or to read a passage, they move again into their world with heightened remembrance of the mystery that is living in awakened presence. In the great traditions of artists and mystics throughout time, this work is intended to shed light on that which cannot be fully seen and to explain what no words can fully encompass. In that noble effort, there is great joy in the moment as brush and pen do their work.

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