Plein Air Art
presents
Biography of artist
Cynthia Orr
An all around artist Cynthia Orr is a painter in the plein air school as well as an accomplished metal smith, jewelry designer, glass artisan,
ceramist and textile artist. She has also taught many of these techniques at the college level.
Her background as a trained cultural anthropologist supports her interest in cultural art styles and their varied manifestations.
Cynthia Orr lives and works in Santa Fe, NM, sharing a studio with artist and husband Kent Wilkinson.
Cynthia Orr designs and fabricates jewelry in a bold, passionate, and painterly style. Her appreciation of the western experience is translated into designs that are reminiscent of the courage, passion and character of the land and its peoples. Orr's distinctive style reflects an intense interest and appreciation for the beauty of the western landscape and its peoples, both past and present. Occasionally first time viewers of her work remark that the pieces somehow remind them of older antique jewelry that they have either owned or seen on travels through the West. The cross, heart, and star imagery Orr uses as the basis for many of her designs are intended to reflect the beauty of favored pieces that have developed distinctive character over time with surfaces that have become smoothed with the wearing. It is the range of life experience that Cynthia hopes to share with those who collect, wear, and view her works, to somehow evoke the memories we build through our own individual life experiences.
Education:
BFA in Art History
MA in Anthropology
MBA Currently in progress