CATHLEEN MCCOY BRISTOL PERSONAL STATEMENT Art introduced me to diversity at a young age. It also provided a common ground for relating to people who were different than me in appearance. As I grew, my artist friends and I learned to celebrate differences and to learn from each other. The more exposure that I had, the more similarities I saw in the human race. We strengthen what we focus on. Believing people are as individual as snowflakes, I loved the visual and artistic study of the variations in humanity and enjoyed the cultural differences. My ambition is to portray the beauty of all people as well as show the world images that represent my personal experience and those to which many people can relate. Sometimes my commentary is soft and other times, it is “in your face.” I like to document the human experience with paint. The challenge of capturing a person’s mood, child’s innocence, warmth and caring of a parent, love for another, history etched on the face of the aged, weathered face of labor or joy of an expectant mother, is most satisfying. While painting, I imagine each character as a person who has a story. Some of my commentaries are subtle while other statements are not.