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About Contemporary Artist

Cynthia McLoughlin

Landscape & Abstract Artist

Artist Bio

Cynthia McLoughlin is a contemporary American painter. Her modern, stylized work is characterized by the reflective qualities of the metal panels on which she paints. By living in the mountains of Park City, Utah, the wide open sky, mountains and outdoor lifestyle are reflected in much of her landscape painting. Her abstract works emerge with introspection, connection to memories and emotions.

McLoughlin grew up in a small town in bucolic upstate New York. Art classes at her high school were limited. Wanting to pursue an artistic career and build her portfolio, she attended the Foundation Program at the Muncin, Williams, Proctor School of Art at S.U.N.Y., graduating with an AAS in Fine Art. Realizing that it would be difficult to support herself as a fine artist, she shifted her creative energy into learning a more lucrative career. McLoughlin moved to New York City and studied fashion design/illustration at the prestigious, Parsons School of Design, rounding out her BFA with academic classes offered at the New School for Social Research. After graduating she worked as a fashion designer in New York City for the next eight years.

Living, working in NYC and traveling to cities around the world for business was as exhilarating as it was exhausting. After meeting her future husband, the couple decided to move to Washington D.C. to begin their married adventure. There McLoughlin tackled the production side of the fashion business, developing and producing private label men’s and women’s wear for the mid-Atlantic clothier Britches of Georgetown.

A family ensued and became the focus of the artist's creative endeavors. Following opportunity, she relocated her family from Washington D.C. to New York followed by California and finally, Connecticut. There she embraced the artistic community at the Silvermine Arts Center taking classes in print making, ceramics, abstract and landscape oil painting. When the kids left home, she and her husband moved back to NYC, then to California and most recently decided to make Park City, Utah their permanent residence.

Ms. McLoughlin has exhibited her paintings in numerous international art shows including Art Basel Switzerland, Art Basel Miami, the Swiss Art Expo in Zurich, The Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo as well as many national shows. In 2018, she was inducted into The National Association of Women Artists, based in New York City. In 2020 she joined the board of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, where she serves on the Development & Gala committees.

Cynthia Photo's for WA&A 10

Artist Statement

Cultures across the span of history have gravitated to the mountains for peace and clarity. We feel the dangerous excitement of a raging storm, it thrills and terrifies all in its path. Creating paintings using mountains and storms as subject matter allows me to express my thoughts, emotions, and love of nature. I delight in the effects of light, the opposing darkness, and color, always looking for new ways to let the light show through in my work. Light relays the metaphor of hope and love.

Taking inspirational photos while skiing, hiking, and living among these beautiful mountains and beneath the big western sky, I am attracted to and bear witness to the sublime. Ultimately, my ideas come from a place where memory, reality, and imagination intertwine.

Using these source photos and memories, I begin with a few quick compositional sketches, then move to the metal panel and paint. Brayers have been the applicator of choice recently because I can get a lot of paint on the panel quickly, blending and building the thin veils of color as I go. I like painting from my home studio so I can take frequent breaks. When returning to the studio with fresh eyes, I often will see a flicker of something that I can build on. I like to work wet-on-wet in a continual process, adding and subtracting as I go. I feel the rhythms of the landscape and often use squeegees to follow the undulations of the land as well as the imagined air currents in my skies. This either exposes the reflective metal surface or adds the invisible dimension I perceive with paint.

Deconstruction. By scraping, I expose the reflective silver, making a shimmering river or reflections on a lake. Buffing, I create the illusion of movement to the backlit edge of a cloud. In my more abstract work, I find spatial rhythms and move the viewer through the two-dimensional plane by pushing the paint into overlapping folds made with my tools. I use different solvents to melt the paint off the metal and varnish to make pebble-like textures on snow and moonlit skies.

“When Byron writes of his wish to mingle his soul with the mountains, the ocean and the stars, he echoes over a century’s worth of thought about the relationship between human beings and the grand or terrifying aspects of nature.” Professor Philip Shaw

I want to awaken this primary need and connect with the viewer through the language of art.

Art Gallery Representation

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"Summit Gallery is a space where contemporary and traditional styles fuse to create an eclectic collection of Mountain West art."

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EXPLORE ORIGINAL ARTWORK

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Professional Art Affiliations

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art - Cynthia McLoughlin

UTAH MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Member of the Board of Directors, 2020

NAWA-logo

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ARTISTS

Member, 2018 - Present

Kimball Arts Center - Cynthia McLoughlin

KIMBALL ARTS CENTER
PARK CITY, UTAH

Member since 2015

Art Publications & Press

Cynthia McLoughlin and Dobbie the cat

Artist Profile

National Association of Women Artists

Red Sky at Night #2, Contemporary oil painting on metal of an abstract red, orange and purple sunset sky, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

Catalogue by ArtBox Gallery

Swiss Art Expo 2019
Hardcover Book

Electrical Storm, Contemporary oil painting on metal of positive phrases in the clouds, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

Western Art and Architecture

Illuminations: Cynthia McLoughlin

I'll Be Right in the Next Room... Which Was Never Close Enough After a Nightmare, Abstract contemporary oil painting on metal, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

KPVI Live Interview

A Conversation with Cynthia McLoughlin

Studio Visit Magazine

Studio Visit Magazine

Winter 2016- 2017 Vol. 35
February 2017

Saraswati Living Arts Project, art and yoga event at The Shop in Park City, Utah

Saraswati Living Arts Project

Magic Lanterns Productions
January 2016

McLoughlin's nostalgic Ferris wheel photo

Through the Lens of an Artist Exhibit

JoAnn Lieberman
February 2016

Lamorinda Weekly

Lamorinda Weekly

December 30, 2015

Art Awards & Recognitions

Elevated Dream, Contemporary oil painting on metal of mystical, magical mountains, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

Elevated Dream | Semi-Finalist

ARTBOX.PROJECT World 1.0 | Zürich, Switzerland
January 4 - June 30, 2021

Misty Ridgeline, Contemporary oil painting on metal of mountains in mist and fog, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

Misty Ridgeline | Semi-Finalist

ARTBOX.PROJECT World 1.0 | Zürich, Switzerland
January 4 - June 30, 2021

Early Morning Road to JFK, Contemporary oil painting on steel inspired by a trip to the airport on a cold morning, Fine Art by Cynthia McLoughlin

Early Morning Ride to JFK | Finalist

Art Basel | Switzerland
June 14 - 18, 2017

Cynthia McLoughlin © 2013

OVERTON'S | FIRST PLACE

Secret Norwalk Juried Art Exhibition | Norwalk Historical Society
June 20 - July 20, 2013

Enquire about fine art commissions or representation for galleries and shows

Commissions are available and are typically four months out. Please note commissions are priced higher than other available works.

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© 2023 All Rights reserved. Intellectual Property Rights relating to all original works on this website remain with the Artist, Cynthia McLoughlin, regardless of ownership. Site by Spigot

 

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