DRAWING FROM LIFE

ARTIST CINDY BUOB SHARES HER STORIES ON CANVAS, INSPIRED BY LIFE ITSELF

Sometimes an obstacle in life can be a catalyst. For artist Cindy Buob of Columbus, the obstacle was a diagnosis of breast cancer in October 2018.

“I decided I was going to really get back into the studio and give it much more effort. I thought, ‘This is what I want to do,’” she said. “It seemed like from that moment, I got more done than I have in years.”

Drawing and painting through that stressful period of treatment and recovery was, and still is, restorative for Buob, who has been a full-time instructor of art at the East Mississippi Community College Golden Triangle campus for six years. She is also a former adjunct art instructor at both Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women. The Illinois native who holds a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has lived in Scotland and Belarus. Since 1997, however, her home has been Columbus, where her husband, Tom Velek, teaches at MUW. The couple has two grown sons.

Buob’s passion for painting and drawing the human figure has been enduring. From the first day she tried it as a freshman in college, she knew it would become important in her life.

“I really just loved figure drawing, and the minute I started doing that I knew it was done — there was no question about it,” she said.

Working from live models, photos or elaborations of an individual’s life history, Buob creates canvases that marry human stories with the human form. Her narrative works are inspired by stories told to her.

“The story behind them can only be imagined. I like to recreate the thought that the image brings out,” she said. “In these paintings I can create the story. It’s visual storytelling.”

In her second-story studio in downtown Columbus, Buob often listens to music as she indulges in two of her distinct interests — the painting of human flesh, and drawing, an art form she values for its immediacy.

One painting in her body of work has great personal significance. Its title: “The Thief.”

“It’s a self-portrait about my diagnosis and journey through breast cancer,” the artist explained. “The actual notes from the phone call informing me of the diagnosis are visible in the painting. The moment you hear the news you realize you must decide how you will take the journey. What will this journey look like for you and those around you? Will you be hopeful? Hope is the most powerful weapon you have.”

Buob, now cancer-free, has come a long way from being the doubting high school student who was encouraged by an art teacher to develop her talents. In March 2019, her oil painting entry in the Meridian Museum of Art Annual Bi-State Competition won Best of Show.

“And from that, I got a one-person show at the Meridian Museum of Art this past fall,” she said.

In January and February, her compelling work was featured in the juried exhibition The Art of Hope at MSU’s Cullis-Wade Depot as well as the University of North Carolina Ashville’s juried international show, Drawing Discourse.

“Feeling successful keeps you going,” Buob said. “I get fed by that continually. ... For me, I feel like art is very therapeutic. I have to make it. It keeps me very happy when I’m in the studio. It keeps me positive.”