Cynthia Kerby

  1. Weak Stays/Week Steel: Binding Oil and Water Rights. The Consequence of Constraints (2019) – acrylic on canvas, steel, corset stays, metal, fabric, glass, and black onyx; 68 x 50 x 45 in.
  2. Nested Homegrown Beliefs: Observing Incubations of Intolerance (2022) – nail-polished bullets, abandoned robin’s nest, grass/feather/seed pods/leaf, paper bag, hate mail excerpts; 5 x 9 x 9 in.
  3. Unaccountability Nested: Challenging Incubations of Impunity (2023) – nail-polished bullets, abandoned robin’s nest, woven synthetic hair extensions, false eyelashes, grass and seeds; 5 h x 7 w x 7 d in.
  4. Conformity Repackaged: My Right, My Choice One Large Clip with Extreme Hold (2022) – hair clip, metal, and plastic; 9 x 9 x 3.5 in.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My artist’s voice addresses both internal and external pressures which often have a disquieting effect, puncturing boundaries that haunt my own awareness of this imbalanced world. As a mixed-media artist, I show familiar objects in unfamiliar ways and make observations of life’s frailties or uncertainties through a lens of personal awareness with curiosity. I experiment with the intertwining of the unexpected that becomes resonant and contemplative for the viewer. My threaded representations urge the viewer to look deeper into the crisis point. I cross-stitch narratives that pose questions to stimulate cognitive reactions, with works that facilitate change in human behavior while promoting awareness towards activism.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Cynthia Kerby (she/her) is a visual artist and communicator. She is also a curator, jewelry designer, former college-level educator, and partner of a design studio in Evanston, IL. Cynthia is originally from Michigan with Métis Ojibwe/French/Canadian ancestry.

Her visual art has been shown at the Art Center Highland Park, Evanston Art Center, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Gallery OTR, 1100 Florence Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, the Beverly Arts Center, Bridgeport Art Center, Stola Contemporary Art, Dwell Studio, and the Gunder Mansion in Chicago. As well, she has exhibited at the North Shore Art League in Winnetka and Gallery 116 in St. Charles, IL, White Bear Center for the Arts in Minnesota, the Port Townsend Wearable Art Exhibition in Washington. In Michigan, she has shown at the Center for the Arts at Mission Point, the Taubman Center for Design Education, in Detroit, and at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.

Cynthia has curated exhibitions at The Westchester Children’s Museum in New York and at Space 900 in Evanston. She was a featured artist in (Re) An Ideas Journal in New York and in Tofu Ink Arts Press (Vol. 5), Pasadena, CA. A recipient of a Ragdale Foundation Artist Residency in Lake Forest, IL, Cynthia earned her MFA in Visual Communication from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

artist’s website

© Cynthia Kerby