Meeting the Middle

Meeting the Middle

August 12th-25th, 2021

Gathered Glass

23 N. Huron Street, Toledo, Ohio 43604

From the Artist

In October 2020, I underwent major surgery to remedy a blocked spinal canal and very nearly escaped irreversible paralysis from the waist down. While in recovery, I took to paper to channel my thoughts, processing the intense physical sensations that washed over my body. Over so many months, while waiting for my vertebrae to fuse, the act of drawing became a way for me to rehabilitate my nervous system, relearn strategies to enliven a body that seemed to have failed me, and regain a sense of self. Although I struggled to integrate at a new speed and pace with a world that was (and still is) simultaneously enduring severe changes, art-making helped me to track time, manage chronic pain, and communicate with others in a way that corresponded with unpredictable energy levels and fluctuating abilities. While existing within a shared state of growth, my creative practice developed into an emotionally fulfilling and sustainable form of personal healthcare that bridges social relationships and continuously proves essential to my overall wellbeing.

From the Gallery

Meeting the Middle explores works created by Cyd Gottlieb between 2018 and 2021, looking at the “before,” “during,” and “after” stages involved with a traumatic event, presenting a visual language that matches such an experience. Collectively, Cyd's selections consider varying aspects of an introspective healing process, and this exhibition of drawings invites the viewer to follow the artist’s lead through an assortment of twists and turns, full of precise linework and rich bursts of color. Offering different entry-points for the eye, she showcases a cohesive blend of patterned reactions that merge with, and therefore shape, whatever situation comes next. All in all, Cyd’s work functions as an insightful teaching tool that delivers an inclusive pathway forward through cartographic, choreographic imagery.

Take the Tour

Although this exhibition’s layout is not strictly chronological, its show floor plan follows Cyd’s stylistic developments as they align with distinct topological, physiological, and psychological shifts.

Beginning with tight, vibrant, and graphic imagery, Meeting the Middle breaks away from what was through intimate notation, and then leisurely reassembles a body of work by returning to painted techniques and applied textures.