If you’ve gone to the Rosenzweig Arts Center in the past year, chances are, you’ve seen the work of Bridget Cruz. As the Columbus Arts Council’s operations manager, Cruz has worked behind the scenes to support the nonprofit’s mission.
But now, Cruz is stepping out from behind the scenes, as her paintings were selected for display in the nonprofit’s smaller gallery space, Artist Hall, through May.
“It’s a little bit of a giddy feeling,” Cruz said. “… Like I’m making progress. Small steps. Putting myself out there. Getting known for art is completely different than operations, where you’re more behind the scenes.”
Growing up in the Newport News area of Virginia, Cruz said she was always doing something creative. However, when she was in middle school, she started engaging with art communities online, getting a peek into other people’s cultures and artistic styles, and learning how to make similar things herself. Her passion continued through high school, though she didn’t necessarily see a career path forward through art.
Instead, she decided to pursue criminal justice, which she said appealed to the more logical side of her brain. Still, she saw that there was an overlap between the two, since she knew some law enforcement officers who still carried a passion for art into their work.
“I remember even in high school, I did this program with the local police department,” Cruz said. “And I remember one officer in there, he was sketching out a portrait during our break in the class.”
Cruz initially attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. But Cruz transferred schools twice, moving with her high-school-sweetheart husband who was enlisted in the Air Force while finishing her own degree.
Cruz also started taking classes to intentionally grow her artistic skills during college.
“I remember attending a … pet portrait class like 10 years ago,” Cruz said. “And I had a cat that had recently passed, and that’s what I was going to paint. … And then I went back for another. And then another.”
While she started off painting with acrylic paint, Cruz soon found a New York artist she admired online who also depicted animals in their work. Taking classes online from that artist whenever she could, Cruz learned how to paint with oil paints, and she started drifting toward more exotic animals as her subjects.
Then, in the summer of 2020, Cruz’s husband was reassigned, this time to Columbus. Moving to the city in the middle of the pandemic came with its challenges, including trying to connect with the community.
But in the middle of transitioning out of a job about a year and a half ago, Cruz started refocusing on her art. She also attended her first pair of gallery openings at the arts council, seeing the work of local students and artist Ralph Null on display.
Cruz said after those gallery openings, she was interested in working with the organization, as a place that brings together artists and allows them to share their work and stories.
“All these stories come in, and everybody’s different, but they’re still here,” Cruz said.
When CAC opened applications for an operations manager a few months later, she applied, and she has been working with the nonprofit ever since.
Day-to-day, Cruz said, she spends most of her time doing organizational work, including taking care of the “basics” of rentals, classes and other events that come to the building, along with the council’s website and social media updates to keep the public informed.
Balancing her responsibilities and her own artistic pursuits can be “a little tough,” Cruz said. But by creating art herself, Cruz said, she has the energy to help other artists in her 9-to-5.
Working a little bit at a time after work, Cruz created a small collection she could put out into the world – the next logical step if she wanted to pursue her passion.
Knowing the arts council had its smaller Artist Hall space, Cruz submitted an application with her artwork. The gallery committee, which she was not involved in, selected her work to be displayed for the month of May. Cruz said she was a “little giddy” to see her artwork hanging in the gallery for the first time.
Cruz’s collection focuses on the beauty of animals, since that is one of her natural loves. For each painting, Cruz finds a reference photo of an actual animal in the wild, trying to connect with that animal’s story and to create a “respectful” portrait, thinking about how that animal has experienced the world as she captures their image.
“What would we be without having these creatures?” Cruz said.
Columbus Arts Council Executive Director Quan Walker congratulated Cruz on her first gallery opening and said this is only the “first step” of her journey as an artist.
“I’m incredibly proud of Bridget,” Walker said in a Monday text message to The Dispatch. “Not only is she an excellent coworker, but she’s also a truly remarkable artist. I admire what she brings to the Columbus Arts Council and even more so, what she contributes to the Columbus community as an artist. I’m grateful to witness and be part of the journey as Bridget steps into her role as a creative force. I know she has so much more to offer, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
