Cynthia Shaw
Milford, PA
Cynthia Shaw is an assemblage and mixed media artist based in NE Pennsylvania.
Message
Cynthia Shaw is a contemporary assemblage and mixed media artist based in rural Milford, PA. Surrounded by nature and silence, her environment deeply informs her work. Her distinctive style explores the psychological and spiritual aspects of life through a process-oriented, intuitive approach.
Born into duality—with an American father and a French mother—Cynthia has long lived with a sensitivity to life’s complexities. Themes of belonging and alienation, beauty and ugliness, consciousness and the unconscious are woven throughout her work. Her art reflects deep questions of identity, connection, and meaning: Who am I? Where do I belong? What is this journey of life?
Cynthia’s 40-year career as a psychologist profoundly influences her creative expression. She holds a BA in Graphic Design and an MA in Clinical Counseling Psychology, and has studied various artistic disciplines over the years. Her work is informed by both her clinical and creative training, combining diverse materials and techniques with emotional and symbolic depth.
After establishing a psychotherapy practice and raising two children, Cynthia began publicly sharing her artwork at the age of 50. Over the last 17+ years, she has exhibited and sold her work through local art shows, galleries, and online platforms. Notable venues include the Nyack, NY Art Walk, The Artery in Milford, the Wayne County Arts Alliance in Honesdale, PA, and Upfront Exhibition Space in Port Jervis, NY.
In addition to her mixed media pieces, Cynthia designs a unique line of jewelry using antique parts, which she has sold at the Wholeness Center in Valley Cottage, NY, and the 959 Shop at the Wayne County Arts Alliance.
Statement
As an artist and psychologist, I am drawn to what lies beneath the surface—of people, objects, and of life itself. My art is a way of giving form to what is deeper than words. It is how I listen inwardly, connect to Spirit, and mirror back the beauty, pain and complexity I find both within and around me.
Curiosity and wonder have been beacons in life. I’ve spent a lifetime exploring how we become who we are—shaped by family, culture, trauma, memory, and mystery. I believe healing begins when we can hold all parts of ourselves—what we treasure and what we fear or abhor—with compassion. This mirrors my approach to art making: I gather the forgotten, the broken, the beautiful and the ordinary—rusted nails, scraps of paper, driftwood, costume jewelry—and bring them into new relationship with one other. I’m fascinated by the way disparate elements coalesce, creating wholeness where none was there before.
Making art is both a meditative and a spiritual act for me. It’s how I come back to presence, to the moment and to intuition. My process is non-linear, often improvisational, shaped by emotion and guided by inner listening. Each piece is part visual memoir, part invitation—asking viewers to slow down, feel, and notice the subtle magic that exists in everyday life and within themselves.
I believe creativity is essential to being fully human. Through my work, I hope to inspire a sense of belonging—to ourselves, to one another, and to the natural world. Art, nature and beauty, after all, are not just to be seen—but are experiences we remember and that call us home.