Short Bio

30+ years as a surreal visual artist, community focused curator and art based healing workshop creator

Statement

My work evolves from an intuitive, spiritual, passionate process, representing the feminine since the beginning of my professional art career of 30+ years, although I've been creating found object art and collage with my mother since I was a child.
I am a painter, mixed media/ collage, assemblage -found object, art installation, photographer and curator who works with surrealism, community, social justice/advocacy, healing, spirituality, and empowerment for women.  I believe art that heals women and communities of color is an act of protest and resistance. Helping to tell their stories publicly helps them heal through being witnessed, wakes up the surrounding community, builds compassion and reasons for dialog where there is little to none.
Influenced by my experiences as a Chinese American woman, I use art and curatorial projects to tell the hidden stories of my family and women of color, encourage the development of intuition, respect for women, self-love and acceptance.
 
I carry out these concepts, beliefs and passions through my art and the work I did as board president and curator for Asian American Women Artists Association (2008-2019) and through an arts-based healing program I founded, A PLACE OF HER OWN. http://www.aplaceofherown.org
I am an artist who uses art making, meditation and spirituality to heal myself and in the sharing of these processes, I have found other women resonating with the same concepts.
Philosophy and Focus. Art helps us dig ourselves out of decades of “other people’s rules and expectations to find and celebrate our true identity.” To Heal, To Grow Strength and Power you must explore your ancestral patterns. What happened to twist your family’s coping mechanisms? What historical event reshaped your family forever? You can change the trajectory.
My Artistic Focus:
Women must rise to be supported:
Internal foundations of empowerment, respect and love of self and owning their power must develop in order to grow share of voice.
External foundations– everyone else must do all they can so women’s voices are heard, respected and acted upon.
 
Spiritual Intuition and Self-love: Provide ideas/tool and encouragement for self and others to find their inner wisdom, strength and power and voice.
 
Political and Cultural Colonization/Gentrification: Educate and Help others to imagine resistance to the status quo through artistic storytelling.  Question tradition. Think outside of the box. Explore Ancestral Family Patterns.

Biography

30+ years as a Cultural Surrealist, Visual Artist, Social Justice focused Curator | Founder: A PLACE of HER OWN, an arts-based healing program 2009-present| Board President: Asian American Womxn Artists Association 2007-2019
 
A mixed-media artist, painter and curator, Cynthia’s work is known as an inspiration for healing, empowerment and social change and fostering community. Coming from a culture that silences womxn, she’s learned to use her visual voice to speak truths about her ancestras and the feminine.
 
As a Cultural Curator|Community Art Activist, she integrates cultural roots and community needs to drive Social Change. She is the Executive Director of A PLACE of HER OWN: An Arts based healing program for womxn of color, exploring ancestral trauma, addressing colonization and aspirations.
 
Her art and curatorial projects have been exhibited in The Smithsonian Archives of American Art – “What is Feminist Art”; San Francisco - the Legion of Honor, De Young Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Thoreau Center, SOMArts Cultural Center, California Institute of Integral Studies, internationally in Portugal and Barcelona, nationally at The Smithsonian, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Rutgers’s University, Los Gatos Museum of Art, Woman Made Gallery- Chicago, etc.
Curatorial awards: de Young Museum Residencies, SOMArts Curatorial Fellowship, Asian American Pacific Islander Cultural Center.
 
Cynthia’s art appears in text books, Women Artists’ of the American West_Univ of Purdue, Susan Ressler and Asian American Art in Post-Colonial Times_ University of Padua, by Dr. Laura Fantone-Professor SF Art Institute. Features include New York Time’s SF Arts Monthly, Center for Asian American Media, SF Chronicle, Psychology Today, Marin Independent Journal, Digital Journal.com, KPFA and KPOO radio.
 
Her work is represented by California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art collections. She lectures at UC Berkeley, SF STATE and Ca College for the Arts.

Resume / CV

Medium

Painting, mixed media, installation, curatorial projects addressing culture, spirituality, healing and social justice

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions and Artist in residence programs

2018   Baldocchi Projects Artist in Residence, San Rafael
2017   Founder’s Gallery, San Rafael ArtWorks - Awakening the Feminine, Ca
2016   Feminine Details, Madrigal Gallery Sausalito: Curator Shiva Pakdel, Ca
2016   Stories To Tell: Discards & Variances. Gallery Route One, Curator Zea Morvitz, Pt Reyes,Ca
2013   F. Borras Residency: A PLACE OF HER OWN mural, 5 Elisabets, Barcelona, Catalunya,
2010-2012 SF Arts Commission -Art in Storefronts, Chinatown, 950 GRANT AVE., SF
2012   Undiscovered Research, Artist in Residence Program, The Legion of Honor, San Francisco
2010   Exhibition in conjunction with the Artist in Residence, San Francisco Fine Arts Museums
           Auxiliary to the Legion of Honor’s Surrealist Exhibition, Dreaming with Eyes Wide Open.
2009 Exhibition and Artist in Residence, M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA                                

Selected Group Exhibitions and Curatorial Projects

2020 What is Feminist Art? Smithsonian Archives of American Art', Curators: A. Chang/Mary Savig,
          Curator of Manuscripts, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
2019    Hungry Ghosts: Exploring Chronic Heartache and Resilience: Curator and Artist/Marin MOCA
2019-20 International Surrealismo NOW. Curator:  Santiago Ribeiro, Portugal
2018    A PLACE OF HER OWN at J-SEI – Curator/Artist
2017   Hungry Ghost: Yearning for Fulfillment @ Gallery Route One, Pt Reyes, CA - Curator/Artist
2017   Living in the Shadows, Rutger’s University and the Feminist Art Project
2014   EATING CULTURES: Stop Consuming Our Women and Children, SF CA – Curator/Artist
2013   Alchemy, Chapter 2 ,Guest artist for Dia de Los Muertos, Rene Yanez curator, SF, CA
2012   Arts of Pacific Asia, Invitational Contemporary Arts Initiative, Fort Mason, SF, CA - Curator
2011   INdiVisible, 3 Artists UC Santa Barbara MC Gallery, Santa Barbara
2011   Discards & Variances: Human Trafficking from a Chinese American Family Perspective. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, RBI Gallery, San Francisco
 

Selected Grants/ Awards/ Residencies

2018   San Francisco Arts Commission, Prequalified Artist Pool for public art commissions
2016    Asian Pacific Islander Curatorial Choice “Presented by” Award: Cynthia Tom - Curator/Artist
2015   Curatorial AWARD, SOMArts for A PLACE OF HER OWN
2016   Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s Curatorial Choice “Presented by” Award
2016   Gallery Route One, Project Space Invitational Residency Award
2012   ABC Broadcast Co.- Profiles of Excellence, Leadership AWARD, San Francisco

 

Selected Publications and Interviews

2019  Psychology Today: Bay Area Art Showcases Healing Journeys of the Feminine | Psychology Today at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art-Ravi Chandra MD.
2019  The Healing Journeys of the Feminine – Center for Asian  American Media
2019 HUNGRY GHOSTS: Jonathan-farrell/women-artists-utilize-hungry-ghosts-festival-to-express-their-concerns
2017  MarinScope Newspapers: Artist Uses Art to Empower Women, Derek Wilson
2017  “n. paradoxa” Intl. Feminist Art Journal, vol 39 Organizing pp 80-85, London,
          “Interview with Cynthia Tom”
2016   ERA 21, vol. 1, Czech Republic Feminist Architecture Magazine - Zuzana Morakova
2016   DigitalJournal.com, Marin Gallery Features Work on Human Trafficking, J Farrell

2016  10 Asian American Female Artists You Should Know -BuzzFeed by KaraFarah

2015   DigitalJournal.com – Artist Uses Exhibitions as Vehicles for Healing, J Farrell
2015   New York Times. SF Arts Monthly – Women Explore Sense of PLACE, Sura Wood
2014    Marin IJ – Cynthia Tom’s Long Journey, Vicky Larson.
2013    Yerba Buena Center video interview: Daily Lives, curator Abby Chen
2012    Chronicle Ovation: Cynthia Tom Finds Her Place, Stephenie Wright Hession
2011    KPFA Radio – A PLACE OF HER OWN, The Curator, Veronica Faisant, NPR
2010    NPR Radio- Tell Me More-Tony Cox, Wash, D.C., Women Artists Find Their Place
2007    Cheers To Muses, an Anthology of Contemporary Work by Asian American Women.
2002     Dreaming with Eyes Wide Open, Artist in Residence at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums,
 SF Arts Monthly

Archives and Academic Textbooks

2020 Smithsonian Art Archives: What is Feminist Art? Curators: A. Chang, Mary Savig
CEMA – UC Santa Barbara (California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives) collections

2018 Textbook: Local Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms: Asian American Contemporary Artists  in California, Chap 5;  by Laura Fantone – PhD SF Art Institute, UC Berkeley, publisher Palgrave.

De Paul University: Asian American Art Oral History Project,   http://via.library.depaul.edu/oral_his_series/10/)
Entering the Picture: Judy Chicago, The Fresno Feminist Art Program, and the Collective
 Visions of Women Artists (New Directions in American History) edited by Jill Fields. 2011
 “Women Artists of the American West”, edited by S. Ressler, Univ of Purdue

Selected Guest Lectures

2002- 2020   Guest Lecturer: UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, SF City College, SF STATE, Cynthia Tom’s Cultural Surrealism, Asian American women in the arts, Healing Through the Arts, a Social Justice project using the arts.

Workshop Creator

A PLACE OF HER OWN: arts based healing and transformative program for women of color
SoulCollage® licensed provider
Spiritual and Thought-provoking art making workshops
Ancestral Family Patterns
 
Cynthia Tom | Visual Arts to Transform the Soul
Visual Artist | Cultural and Social Justice Art Curator
415-722-4296 | www.cynthiatom.com
 https://www.aplaceofherown.org
https://www.facebook.com/cynthiatomart/
https://www.instagram.com/cynthiatom.art/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiatom

As a Cultural Curator and Community Artist, I try to integrate cultural imagery, feminine surrealism and community needs to inspire healing and empowerment.  As the founder and director of A PLACE of HER OWN™, I feel a responsibility as an artist to create engaging art projects that share the truths of our communities.