Dubuque artist, Cynthia Nelms-Byrne presented her newest collection of paintings in the Dubuque Museum of Art’s Kris Mozena McNamer Gallery through March 17, 2013. Nelms-Byrne drew inspiration from five of her favorite poets. Her main inspiration was singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen but also Billy Collins, Sara Teasdale, Kay Ryan, and Rebecca Christian. Using their lyrics and poems she created eight pairs of paintings, sixteen altogether – one realistic and one abstract, harmoniously coordinated through color and composition.
Nelms-Byrne was born in Denver, Colorado, and has also lived in Oregon, California, and Spain. For most of her life, she worked in the mortgage banking industry, but in 1989 she returned to school in California to further her education in graphic design and fine art. She has lived in Dubuque since 1995 with her husband Robert.