Artist’s Statement

Cindia S. Carlson-Tsuda

cctsuda@yahoo.com WEBSITES: http://www.artistsregister.com/artists/AZ579 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpxjuAu93U  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0lvLrGyty4

I view my work as the product of a life-long pursuit, aligned with personal destiny to express spiritual and physical experiences using emotional color and symbolic form. A strong desire to further communicate the content of my artwork has influenced the writing of several manuscripts and dream narratives.

By working within the figurative tradition, a powerful connection occurs as a result of the position and gesture of the human form, either isolated or in relationship with other figures and symbolic references, often in landscape settings. Organization and contrast of the lyrical-Arabesque, organic and geometric elements, lend to the uniqueness and originality of my work. I enjoy gathering additional images into my canvas from a subconscious level as layers develop. I have established a personal symbolic imagery, consistent in theme and subject. The “telling of a dream” and “performance of painting” have become part of Myth-Making for me.

Portraiture holds special interest with me. Several commissioned portraits have been painted for Japan, Arizona and Nebraska residents.  I enjoy developing the portrait to mask and then into “Shadow Man” sculptures. 

These little spirit shadows stand as a suggestion of a spirit world, composed of multiple human, animal and angelic spirit forms with colorful organic decoration. A mask over the shadow-like, dark stained wood figure lends to the detached and otherworldly appearance of these sculptures.

The “Shadow Man” sculptures were published in the Scottsdale Magazine, Nov-Dec 2002 issue during a Carefree Sculpture Garden Exhibit. I am currently designing with metal as a “Phase II” alternative in these portrait-based sculptures. This enhances their potential for placement as Public Art.

I have incorporated my wide range of interests into digital media, web design, graphics, photography and film. The new media has raised my interest by challenging me to keep up with the latest software and equipment!!

Artist’s Biography

Cindia S. Carlson-Tsuda

Cindia truly believes that she has been following a path in life through experiences and educational opportunities, which would contribute “content” to her artwork. She enjoys discovering artistic connections and purpose through cultural, philosophical, historical, psychological and spiritual studies.

With a very colorful background, Cindia grew up working with her father’s construction crew in Northeast Nebraska where she was born November 14, 1955. She is the eldest of six children. The family moved to Boulder for a couple years but soon returned back to Wayne. Cindia’s involvement in agriculture is extensive and she has produced beef cattle and several types of cash crops. She later constructed and managed a dairy plant, which bottled milk and produced feta cheese while caring for the large herd of dairy goats to supply this operation.

Cindia began to take her own artwork more seriously during college art classes at Wayne State College around age 26. Until this time, she had little knowledge of Art History and Artists. Professors questioned her naïveté quite often but she had never even visited an art museum until 1982. When she painted flowers, she was sent to the library to find out whom Georgia O’Keefe was (they shared the same birth date). When Cindia named her paintings with such titles as “Two Redheads on a Bench”, she was told to look into Phillip Pearlstein. Cindia’s Instructors could hardly believe that her ideas were intuitive and questioned the origins of them. Much like Henri Rousseau, she was not feeling inspired by the local scenery for subject matter and began using photos of “far away”, beautiful places to derive images to paint from.

Dreams became an interesting and natural source for subject matter as Cindia realized she could reproduce these images. Painting at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the summer of 1987 impacted her work as she enjoyed the acceptance of a REAL ART ENVIRONMENT for the first time.

Cindia achieved a BS Art/Business from WSC, a BFA Painting/Drawing from UN-L, and an MFA in Art from UN-L / SAIC. She has worked as Preparator at Sheldon Art Museum and several Galleries, as Exhibits Technician at Morrill Hall Natural History Museum, Instructor of Art at Art Institutes International, Colby Community College, Southeast Community College, A/V Tech and Computer Tech at LPS-North Star H.S.

Cindia feels that the combination of beautiful Arizona landscapes, cultural communities and excitement of living in a supportive arts community has renewed her desire to create. She is currently working
in-studio and teaching college full time!

“Shadow Man” Sculptures
by Cindia S. Carlson-Tsuda

The “Shadow Man” sculptures have evolved mainly from Cindia’s portraiture to mask drawings and paintings. A mask over the shadow-like, dark stained wood figure lends to the detached and otherworldly appearance to these sculptures. The little spirit shadows stand as a suggestion of a spirit world composed of multiple types of human, animal and angelic spirit forms.

The contemplative hand gesture represents the idea of reflecting or looking back on life or the past. This is similar to the central figure’s pose in Paul Gauguin’s painting titled, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”

These figurative sculptures are each hand painted and assembled so they have become uniquely individual and are actually 3-dimentional paintings. Facial details have become less important, yet they remain identifiable as individuals according to their décor, color and markings. Color and lines which surround these shadow figures, represent light and energy.  The Shadow Man has been created in two sizes. The larger sculptures are between 38 to 43 inches tall and the smaller size stands about 20 inches tall.

Recent Exhibition Record

Art Institutes International – Kansas City – Juried Faculty Exhibit 2008
Northwest Kansas Cultural Arts Center Gallery 2006-2008
Agent: Friedberg, Rubin and Associates of Chicago and Scottsdale Foothills Wood Transformations Show Room, Tempe, AZ 2006-2008
Discovery Gallery, Downtown Scottsdale, AZ with Craig Chepley, Daniel Friedman, Kristine Brambilla, Sylvia Ernst 2006
Gi’Clee Prints - Arts Alive, Scottsdale, AZ & Itera Art Press, Phoenix, AZ Adonia’s Art & Furniture Gallery, Anthem, AZ One-woman Grand Opening Exhibition and Representation 
Sculpture Garden at the Spanish Village, Carefree, AZ Established and Emerging with Rotraut, Herb Goldman, Chasby Sachs, James Butler, and Patti Pierce.  Published: Established and Emerging by Kristen Jekel,
Scottsdale Magazine Nov/Dec issue pp. 77-79
Erie Street Gallery , River North / Chicago, Contemporary Women in the Arts with Penny Booth and Ruyell Ho
13th Street Gallery, Omaha, NE, Adam Whitney Gallery, Omaha, NE

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VITAE'

MFA - Master of Fine Arts
60 semester cr hr degree 1988 @University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago on Scholarship  1987 G.P.A. 3.9/4.0 Art / Art History Thesis, Solo Exhibition, Orals
BFA - Bachelor of Fine Arts….equivalent 75 semester cr hr degree
G.P.A. 3.5/4.0 Painting / Drawing
BS - Bachelor of Science
130 semester cr hr degree  1984 @ Wayne State College
Major: Art Minor: Business

UN-L Program Assistant Managerial / Professional 2009 to present
HTML and Dreamweaver updates and Design within UN-L’s Center for Materials and Nanoscience Departmental Website.
Digital Media / Arts Instructor 2008 to present
Art Institutes International – Kansas City, KS
College Art Instructor, Head 2006-2008
Colby Community College – Colby, KS
A/V Media Tech & Network Computer Tech 2003-06
North Star High School / Lincoln Public Schools – Lincoln, NE