A Fort Worth artist discussed her work Friday in the Mary Couts Burnett Library’s Fab Lab as part of the library’s Visiting Artist Workshop series. 

Brenda Ciardiello, who is Mexican-American, said her work focuses on “our connection to place and our connection to the natural world, and how that feeds into our identity and the connections we make with each other.” 

Ciardiello has traveled extensively. She said her experiences in places, such as the U.K., Italy and the Middle East, are a source of imagery in her work. Originally from Mexico City, Ciardello said both her experiences with different cultures and time as a mother heavily influenced her work. 

She said her art gives her a different lens to view the world. 

“That is the biggest gift because it makes you observe things around you both from a formal standpoint and more critically,” Ciardiello said. “That is maybe one of the most important things in life, in general, to be able to question and interrogate everything around you and understand how that influences you and others around you.”

Throughout her career, she has focused on education and art. 

“When looking through the artists who responded to our call, her work, with its focus on botanicals and memory, seemed like a perfect second workshop to introduce TCU students to contemporary art and contemporary art concepts,” said Christine Drake-Thomas, TCU Library’s Innovation Collaborator.

Ciardiello, who lives in Fort Worth, was honored as a Carter Community Artist at the Amon Carter Museum in 2021.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Classical Civilizations from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Education from the City College of New York. She recently earned her Master of Fine Arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.