Join the Bainbridge Public Library for the April 2019 First Friday Art Walk, featuring artist Cynthia Lait

The Bainbridge Public Library is dedicated to spreading the joy of reading and the discovery of ideas with not just our local community, but visitors from near and afar. In addition, the library is fortunate to house beautiful local works of art both inside and outside the building. Each month the library celebrates a local artist (or artists) with an exhibit, which opens monthly on the island’s First Friday Art Walk tour, and includes a reception hosted by the featured artist.

With spring upon us, what better way to delight your visual senses, than with Cynthia Lait’s: “A Celebration of Ocean, Earth and Sky” — Cynthia will host an opening reception at the library on April 5, 5-7pm.

Cynthia’s artistic roots date back to her childhood; if she wasn’t reading a book, she was creating art, her favorite in the younger years — drawing horses. As she progressed through college, motherhood and a career in the high tech industry, art fell a bit to the wayside, but she never gave it up entirely. Now that her children are off to college, she’s returned to the studio, drawing inspiration from the patterns, movement and colors of our natural environment. Cynthia’s work is abstract in nature. She enjoys creating pieces that leave you pondering countless interpretations and meanings long after you first lay eyes on it.

Although she paints individual pieces that can be hung on walls, she is most inspired by public art and has done murals (individually and collaboratively) here on Bainbridge Island and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Public art becomes more alive ¬— more communal.”

Wanting to reflect the beauty of the Puget Sound, Cynthia worked with WSDOT to create her mural “Puget Sound Wave”, which proudly adorns the walls of the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal.

In addition, she worked collaboratively with the students at Ordway Elementary School here on BI to create a four-panel mural celebrating their Spanish Immersion program, “El Velero”. In the Bay Area, she worked with the students to create a beautiful outdoor mural at Twin Creeks Elementary in San Ramon, CA.

Cynthia’s current exhibit at the Bainbridge Public Library was inspired by the expansive and constant movement of the ocean and sky — painting on Japanese paper, using dazzling colors, Cynthia then slices her completed paintings up and reassembles them into vibrant compositions celebrating the magnificence of the earth and sky.

Although Cynthia will continue to create her brilliant murals and paintings, she hopes to spend the next few months exploring new and different mediums and discovering where else her art will take her. To learn more about her work, click here.

You can view Cynthia’s work all of April during regular library hours and on the library website, www.bainbridgepubliclibrary.org. A podcast interview with Cynthia is also available at https://www.bestofbcb.org/arts-035-artist-cynthia-lait/

As always, thank you for supporting your Bainbridge Public Library and local artists – Linda Meier, art coordinator. If you have interest in exhibiting your work, feel free to contact Linda at lindameier2000@gmail.com

***Library content and images provided by Linda Meier, Bainbridge Public Library
***Cynthia Lait images provided by Cynthia Lait