Art show – Cynthia McGuirl
Family Tree – Gibbs Library – November 3 – December 31, 2022
“Looking Out”Artist Statement
last year, started with old family photos of Armenian Genocide survivors and new photos of
Maine locations where I like to hike. I think of myself as an expressionistic painter and work in
an intuitive way combining real and imagined imagery.
maternal Aunt in Cuba in 1929. They were Armenian refugees recently arrived from central
Turkey. After 10+ years of witnessing and surviving the brutal Genocide, they had arrived at a
place of relative safety, Cuba, a small island halfway around the world. I tried to capture their
variety of emotions at such momentous life changes.
Biography
McGuirl is a life long artist. She has been creating in Maine over the last 40 years. McGuirl
attended art school, which saved her life, moved to Maine, which saved her soul, and pursued a
career as a functional hand weaver. A series of intense dreams about her ancestors lead
McGuirl to seek a more narrative mode of expression which manifested as printmaking, book
arts and oil painting.
Recent exhibits include a solo show, Old Maid at the Hedgerow Gallery in Tenants Harbor,
ME, and Unspoken Word, a group exhibit by Midcoast Maine Book Arts at the Blue Hill
Library in Blue Hill, Maine. In the winter of 2020, McGuirl’s piece Old Maid was a featured in
the Union of Maine Visual Artists Journal. She teaches book arts and marbling at various
locations and at her studio in Thomaston, ME.
Reception: Sunday December 4th 2-4pm
Meet the artist who will give a short talk at 2:30 about the stories behind the paintings.
“On the Roof Anna”