Cyd Gottlieb (b. 1989, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toledo, Ohio whose work centers on creative problem-solving through experiential, visual, and interpretive programming. Her abstract style, developed during recovery from a spinal cord injury, serves as a medium for processing emotions and bodily sensations. Gottlieb’s art explores introspective healing, using layers of paint and mixed media to guide viewers through a visual journey that evolves with each piece. Career highlights include the Ohio Arts Council ADAP grant award for 2025, a residency fellowship with Penland School of Craft, solo exhibitions with the Burkholder Project and Gathered Glass, and contributions to cultural texts published by Harvard University Press. Her work is part of the Sanda Findley Collector’s Corner at the Toledo Museum of Art, and artworks are also currently carried by COOP Gallery, Wavelength Space, and ArtClvb. A self-taught artist, Gottlieb holds a BA in Hispanic Language and Literatures from Boston University.
Statement
Cyd Gottlieb's visual language references the twists and turns of everyday life, creating a maze, a dance, a floor plan, a map, or an escape route for others to study and potentially follow. As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she looks to document her own story, which is demonstrably linked to theirs. Her current studio work addresses the process of "starting over" and relates her own displacement after a four-alarm fire, which resulted in the loss of her possessions and home, to her grandparents' resettlement experience as refugees in the Midwest. Gottlieb uses layers of paint and mixed media to explore introspective healing and guides viewers through an illustrative journey that evolves with each piece. Leaning into Ashkenazi Jewish, spiritual concepts, this body of work explores personal boundaries and decisive limits in relation to what one can withstand or chooses to take, whether material, external, or a part of the self.