Cynthia Metcalfe
Art Biography

Cynthia Metcalfe was born and grew up on Bell Island. The meadows, woods, towering cliffs and sparkling blue waters of Conception Bay which surround the "Iron Isle" instilled a love of nature in her at a very young age. A decade of living in Central Newfoundland provided more opportunities to explore and appreciate the beauty and power of the Newfoundland landscape. Her attachment to this land in all its moods and changing seasons reveals itself in her paintings of ice-filled bays, sunny coves, raging rivers, rocky barrens and captivating outports.

She began painting initially with self-study and then took classes in oil painting in the early 70s from Alice Pittman Dicks and Don Locke while living in Central Newfoundland. Upon moving back to St. John's in the early 80s she took drawing and oil painting classes at Memorial University Extension Services from Susan Wood, Lise Sorensen and Gerald Squires. In the 90s she began watercolour classes and won several student awards while attending the Ed Roche School of Art. She has taken workshops from noted Canadian artists Edwin Mathews and Henry Vyfynkel. More recently she has taken classes and workshops conducted by Newfoundland artists Don Short and Florence Maud Pinhorn.

Cynthia was proud to be part of the Bell Island Mining Centennial Exhibition on Bell Island in 1995 and to have her painting "The Fog Rolls in over No. 4 - Bell Island" featured as the back album cover artwork for the Bell Island Submarine Miners' CD, Tribute, in 2000.

She has participated in juried art shows in St. John's, Vancouver and Omaha. Over the years she has participated in group exhibits with the Art Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Visual Artists of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the MUN Botanical Park. She is currently a member of VANL and serves on the board of the AANL. Her  paintings are in private, corporate, and provincial government collections. She lives in St. John's with her husband and children.