Our Grandmother's Daughters: The Work of Cynthia Hellyer Heinz

Abstract

My drawings are visual surrealist narratives. My intention is that they not passively hang on the wall but stimulate a dialogue. I use symbols, both apparent (the lace for beauty) and ambiguous (the seeds for time) to stimulate a thoughtful conversation with the viewers.  

All the drawings are done using a variety of color pencils on paper. I work gradually, building the layers of light and dark until the form emerges into saturated color. The drawing process is for me a passionate, sensuous experience of constant discovery. I am learning, by drawing, to feel through the surface light and texture into the fiber of the image.  I work from life, setting objects close enough to examine them intimately. As I draw, the vegetables rot, the lace gets dusty and the flesh dries out. I am expressing a passage of time with aging reproductive flesh, both human and organic.