​Review by Gary Erbe


The Weinberger Fine Art Gallery is located in the trendy up-and-coming Crossroads
area in Kansas City, Missouri. It was there that I encountered Cynthia Bjorn’s
paintings and her solo show.

Soft hues of yellow, blue, green and red sit quietly on the stark white walls in the
spacious Weinberger gallery. The artist, Cynthia Bjorn, has dissolved the material
world into the innocence of pure untainted emotions. Her paintings don’t speak;
they whisper an undistinguishable sense of sadness and joy.

With almost unalterable focus, she follows a singular persistent goal, to quiet her
mind with a meditative stroke from her paintbrush. She methodically builds herself
a nest with one relatively straight line at a time and echoes that gesture a thousand
times over to cradle her soul.

One could argue about the futility of Cynthia’s endeavors to comprehend and define
a region of time and space that exist without borders. We should ask, how does one
secure that space and neatly place it into the boundaries of a painting?
But, Cynthia doesn’t shrink away from the futility of this endeavor; she strived
forward toward the undoable. She struggled on her and our behalf. She fights to
create a personal space where ugliness and pain is replaced with beauty and peace,
leaving us with forty-two beautiful paintings that the entire world can reflect upon
and enjoy.
​
All of us will experience times of extreme anguish and emotional pain. Some of us
may even ask ourselves, am I alone in my pain or do I share this with some greater
cosmic entity? Cynthia explores the latter in her paintings and creates bridges
between two worlds with love.

Conscious Reverie
Halcombe Miller, Weinberger Fine Art
 October 2, 2019

Conscious Reverie: Cynthia Bjorn’s Story In Color
The collection of works displayed in Cynthia Bjorn’s solo exhibition Story In Color offer us an intimate glimpse into her evolution as a person and an artist. In a culture currently consumed with self-care and wellness it can be easy to scoff at the notion of presence but Bjorn’s utter lack of pretense makes engaging with her dialogue fluid. Her current practice has veered away from the aggressive action and large gestures of her older works and into new territory. Bjorn likens the changes in her aesthetic to her own life and a realization that her practice could be used to self direct her thoughts and feelings. The staccato energy of her former creative angst has simmered into a mindful legato intent on conscious reverie. Much like her work, Bjorn herself has a bright and steady energy and with this energy she has blended mark making and color into personal meditations. 

The long, feathery brushstrokes Bjorn’s current work has become known for are the result of expertly blended paint and a still hand. Bjorn uses acrylic paint mixed with medium to create the proper consistency needed for the thousands upon thousands of fine lines in her subtly detailed, minimal pieces. Each line is made with purpose and intention, and each set of colors is a reflection of Bjorn’s spiritual interior. At a distance her works communicate oscillating colors and an organic hatching, but up close her paintings give way to much more. Dense layers reveal themselves in fragments, nuanced colors emerge as fine lines momentarily cross paths, and the rich coating of resin cascading across the surface of the panel becomes more than just sheen. The resin Bjorn applies to each of her paintings captures a fantastic dynamism that allows the deepest layers to peak out as the top layer tucks in. The meditation that Bjorn brings into her mark making is matched by the meditative headspace required for the precision of her resin work: both meditations are frozen in time as the resin tightly glosses the panel before curing in sterile isolation. Once the panels have fully dried they emerge from their studio quarantine imbued with Bjorn’s energy. ​

Bjorn’s panels each carry their own emotional weight, but their mutual dimensions allow the pieces to be arranged in family units that create their own narratives. With each panel sharing the same measured length alongside differing widths they cluster and pair together in seemingly endless conversation.  A trio of deep gray and black pieces partner with a pair of citrusy lime panels creating a vision of a somber mood turned hopeful. This group of panels is a reminder that a bad morning hasn’t stolen the day and that sometimes the best we can do is surrender. A stack of panels in deep neutral tones titled Gratitude appears almost figurative and deeply grounded in the Earth: the steady energy of Bjorn’s gratefulness buzzes lightly beneath the luster of each piece.

​This color family is unified by a thin web of shimmering gold lines resting upon the surface as a sort of suture or embrace. The largest piece in this family is titled Talking to Angels and the smallest is the aptly named Mother’s Song — the details of Bjorn’s meditations remain private, but these panels seem to invite viewers to experience a sense of both loss and hope. ​

Like people, each of Bjorn’s paintings has a story to tell within a malleable context. Just as our own lives are temporary and often provisional, every panel’s color and every collection of panels evokes a new story. We may have said so long to Story In Color, but it’s certainly not goodbye. Bjorn’s pieces will continue to have presence in the Weinberger Fine Art main space. We invite you to come take a look and experience your own color story by appointment or by chance. 

Hunt Slonem & Fall Motif including: Margaret Evangeline, Andy Gershon, Brenda Zappitell, Carlos Gamez de Fransisco and Cynthia Bjorn
September 7, 2018
FIRST FRIDAY: OCTOBER 5, 2018
·      Currently on exhibition from September 7through October 20, 2018. 
·      An opening reception for new works by Hunt Slonem will be held Friday October 5thfrom 5-8 pmat our newest locationThe Drawing Room: 1903 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO 64108. This event is open to the public.
·      Join us for the opening of Fall Motif including works by Margaret Evangeline, Andy Gershon, Brenda Zappitell, Carlos Gamez de Fransisco and Cynthia Bjorn. A reception will be held Friday October 5thfrom 5-8 pmat the Weinberger Fine Art main gallery space, 114 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, MO. This is a members only event.
·      Both of these shows will remain open to the public Tuesdays - Fridays from 10-6 and Saturdays from 12-5. 

I am happy to be included in the “My Story” exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. When I first heard of this theme, I was looking forward to the opportunity to be authentic with my motivation.  When I usually talk about my work, I try to capture the essence of the origin of my work, I also do not elaborate on why this type of direction is important to me. One, it sometimes feels raw… and another is that it is so precious and sacred. 

Here is "My Story":

Have you heard of the term “Heart Mom”? That is what I am. It is a term given to mothers of children born with congenital heart disease (CHD). It is a term that creates a bond and understanding among other heart moms. It is hard to relate to a heart mom’s fears – not knowing if your child will survive; the surgeries, the common cold or the day to day fragile state of existence. Children born with complex CHDs have a high mortality rate. My child was considered complex… 
and not expected to survive.
 
There’s an internal buzz that happens in your head when you’re trying to hold everything together in the midst of chaos…year after year. Through so much of the chaos, there seemed to be threads of hope, wherever I turned- new drugs, new procedures and mostly the hope came from my child’s point of view. Dylan displayed an ethereal peace regardless of the prognosis. Through Dylan’s calm and the understanding that this, whatever it was, was not in our hands to control – I clung to faith and hope through the example my child set. 
 
My child survived childhood and after 22 years of my life being dictated by hospital stays - I started painting again. My paintings reflect the threads of hope in the middle of chaos. Most of my work pulls from this theme in one way or another. 
 
After painting full-time for several years- my work has evolved from a staccato rhythm to a more meditative response to my environment.  I still tap into that internal buzz that defines my creative voice and directs the tone of my mark making, but the noise is not as loud as it used to be.