Cynthia Cruz

     Cynthia Cruz was born in New Bedford and raised in Taunton by parents who immigrated, along with their extended families, from the Azores. Although she wouldn’t discover her artistic talent until much later, Cynthia was entranced by color and texture from an early age. She fondly remembers traveling to Boston with her mother and grandmother to shop for textiles.  “In the fabric district I saw rows of colors and material, and then at the button shop we would buy draws of buttons, beautiful lace, and ribbon.”  Her family also kept a garden, a tradition that Cynthia has continued. The varieties of flowers and vegetables that delighted her as a child can be found in her garden each season, and serve not only as sustenance, but as inspiration for her paintings.

 

    Cynthia has worked with a variety of mediums, but prefers oil paint above all others. “I prefer the rich colors that I’m able to achieve with oils. I also find that it is a very forgiving medium.” Through her art she focuses on the beauty in small ephemeral things, whether the light touching on the landscape just so, or a flower that has past its prime, she finds that her subjects don’t need to be perfect. “They can be in some form of transition or decay and there’s beauty in that. Even when things are fragile, they are beautiful—just a different sort.”