The Traveler

Issue date: 1/14/09 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Veronica Pucci "Borderlands & Fairytales" (left) and "Terra Incognita: Wear Me Like a River" are two abstract paintings of Cindy Wiseman, a UA art history professor. Wiseman's paintings, featured at the Four Square Fine Art Gallery, are inspired by memories of her travels and experiences in New Mexico.

A new local art showcase is on display at the Four Square Fine Art Gallery. This month, the exhibit introduces the artwork of abstract painter and UA art history professor Cindy Wiseman, who has recently joined the gallery.

For the last three decades, Wiseman has worked as a professional artist based in the Arkansas Ozarks. Her career began in three-dimensional work and evolved into painting. Since 2000, Wiseman has devoted herself entirely to drawing and painting. Wiseman wanted to expand her knowledge of art and art history and decided to return to academia.

In 2005, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art with an emphasis in painting at the UA. She soon departed to New Mexico, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and became inspired by the landscape.

"I knew of Cindy's work when she was at the University of Arkansas," said Gene Andes, gallery director of the Four Square Fine Art Gallery. Despite Wiseman's move, Andes continued to follow her career for four years through her Web site. He said he heard that she was returning to Fayetteville and invited her to display her paintings at the gallery.

Wiseman was raised by parents who traveled constantly, and her family moved more than 30 times while she was growing up. This way of life exposed her relationship with nature, which would become a vital theme in her paintings.

"The environment became a closer friend to me than people because I moved so much," said Wiseman, who lived in New Mexico for three and a half years.

Her experiences and emotional responses while living in New Mexico are evident in the paintings, capturing the essence of landscapes and rivers through the use of abstractions. A painting titled "Terra Incognita: Wear Me Like a River" is brilliantly illustrated with a bold gold tone, and Wiseman uses mixed media to suggest a waterfall image. The piece is inspired by an Edward Abbey poem, she said.

Drawings of human bodies also reveal the strong bond with the natural world, as the form is shaped as a person but colored with earth tones.

"I've always thought of landscapes as a body," Wiseman said. "I combine both elements [of real-life and environment] in my paintings. It could just be a line or a curve, or it could have a more geographical reference than a figure."

Although Andes said the gallery shows representational work, he thinks Wiseman's works are evocative.

"The landscapes have a nice way of capturing a feeling of the place," he said.

Wiseman's works will be displayed at the Four Square Fine Art Gallery until Feb. 14. Additionally, new artwork from Robert Andes, MM Kent, Robert Glick, Tanya Johnston, Kyle McKenzie, David Mudrinich, John Newman and Golsa Yaghoobi are also part of the group exhibit. The gallery is located on 112 West Center Street, Suite 130.

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