Cynthia Fuhrer was born and raised in Edmonton. She attended art school at Grant MacEwan Community College, the University of Guelph and the University of Alberta where she received her MFA in painting in 2003. Cynthia works in the local art community as a preparator at the Art Gallery of Alberta, an instructor at Grant MacEwan, and a lead artist educator at the Nina Haggerty Centre; a centre for adult artists with developmental disabilities. She has received several grants and awards, including project and travel grants from the Canada Council, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Edmonton Artists Trust Fund, and The Edmonton Arts Council. Presently, Cynthia is working on a figurative and portrait project with funds awarded by the Edmonton Arts Council.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My portraits lack any of the ties to traditional portraiture where the aims are to produce works that convey a strong connection to the sitter’s likeness or to a specific person’s identity. In my portraits, they can go so far as to even lack features linking them to a face at all. Existing between figurative and abstract modes, the figurative element is balanced with the inherent properties and materiality of the paint resulting in a unique surface and form. The figurative element arrived at via process painting creates a tension: the control and non-control of the material and how the resulting image can function with elements of both. My aim is to find a balance between that which is depicting the form of a human, and what it is to be human.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011
I Make My Own Friends, Harcourt House Gallery, Edmonton, AB, January – February
2008
Abyss Bliss, Fringe Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2007
It was the Biggest Brick You Could Have Thrown, Fringe Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2005
Recent Shootings - Faces and Figures, Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Strict Machine, Fringe Gallery, Edmonton, AB
If this mouth could talk….Harcourt House Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2003
Go a Progress, MFA graduate show, FAB Gallery, U of A, Edmonton, AB
2001
Dank; Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
2000
Catharsis; Harcourt House Public Gallery, Edmonton, AB

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011
TBA, Profiles Public Art Gallery, St. Albert, AB, December 2011- January 2012
2008
Worse things have happened to better people, The Works Festival, Stollery Gallery, Edmonton
2007
TURF, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Free for All, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2006
Neither Here Nor There, ArtsHab Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2005
'Collections - FINA Faculty', University of Kelowna, Kelowna, BC
2003
Fast Forward, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2002
Just Desserts, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2001
2+ Headed Projects; Zavitz Gallery, U of G, Guelph, ON
The Helpless Academics; Zavitz Gallery, U of G, Guelph, ON
2000
Curious Hybrids; Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Fresh Meat; Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, AB