It’s not every day you get the chance to speak to a true artist. It’s even more rare for that artist to have a compelling story. Cecilia Chiang, then, is certainly rare.
This April, the Crow Museum opened a new exhibit titled “Don’t Tell Me What To Do,” featuring an unexpected creator: a woman in her 90s that only started painting in her 50s. Chiang, despite the relatively “late start,” has an impressive collection numbering in the thousands. The reason: Chiang has an almost daily habit of creating. But why?
After talking to Chiang directly, the answer seemed simple. “If I see something I like, no matter what, I just paint it,” said Chiang. “For me, [it’s] just to pass my time because I’ve already [been] retired for around twenty-five years.” But her work embodied a deeply inspired energy, far more nuanced and successful than what you would expect from someone just filling time. Chiang’s work has been featured in more than 40 different exhibits. There must be some deeper explanation for her craft.
Photography by Jenny Chiang | Courtesy
Chiang’s work has a clear, strong voice that permeates everything she creates. Her pieces vary in medium and subject, each not exactly replicating a found image but rather capturing its spirit — according to her, “inspiration appears unintentionally and fleetingly, so it must be seized in an instant.” Many artists spend decades trying to figure out the inherent paradox of art, how to convey dynamic humanity in a static format. Chiang has found her own solution after four decades of skilled practice in her craft.
Chiang said the fuel for her self-motivation wasn’t clear to her at first. It originated from what she thought was just a coincidence. Chiang had spent years teaching at various educational institutions; on one fateful summer, she was chosen by her principal to teach a class on painting. Despite being married to a successful artist, she had never painted and refused to join his classes because of her pride.
“I was very shocked,” Chiang said. “I told her, ‘Sorry, I never painted before, and I can’t take this job.’ She just forced me to do it. She said, ‘Hey, since your husband is an artist, you can paint.’ So, I had no choice. The only thing I did was just go to the library to find some Chinese painting books.”
Chaing said that her “no rules” approach to art comes from her self-taught introduction to the world of painting. Chiang acts as something of a conduit for the inspiration of daily life, resulting in bold and often colorful creations. As the title of the exhibit “Don’t Tell Me What To Do” suggests, she revels in an independent style of creation.
Since she began painting, Chiang has had children, retired, traveled the world, welcomed grandchildren and continued incessantly creating. Chiang has managed to take the richness of her experiences and place it directly onto her canvases. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, curator of the Crow Museum, said Cecilia’s pieces are unique in the contemporary art scene.
“I think she has an important message of joy — the joy of making,” Di Pietrantonio said. “She’s really representative of a wonderful modern moment of Asian American artists [whose] voice has been lost. I think she has a vibrant and beautiful story.”
Photography by Jenny Chiang | Courtesy
Of all the ideas that leap out of Chiang’s work, I found that joy was always the most prominent. In our hour-long interview, Chiang told stories of learning, of her family and of her artistic processes. But no matter the subject, she enthusiastically described her life with warm laughs and full smiles.
“We’ve had very strong, positive reactions, particularly of those who got to meet Cecilia virtually [who] felt she was such a strong, active, kind individual,” Di Pietrantonio said. “That [attitude] radiates through Cecilia.”
While not every human will dedicate their life to creating works of art, Chiang provides a wholesome model: find something personally enjoyable, learn what makes you happy and, if others try to disrupt that joy, don’t let them tell you what to do.
Chiang is exhibiting her work in the Crow Museum’s Dallas Art District location from April 5, 2025 to March 9, 2026. She is scheduled to display an additional selection titled “Whiskers and Paws” in the Crow Museum’s Athenaeum location at UTD later this year.
Chiang’s somewhat unconventional story and age may seem drastically different than what is conventionally expected from artists. Her themes of family, happiness and individuality, however, are core to the human experience. Everyone can find themselves in some aspects of Chiang’s work, and it is that complex simplicity that makes Cecilia Chiang certainly rare.
“No matter what my face looks [like], or how my body looks, we are all the same,” Chiang said. “I wish that people, when they see someone that’s different, don’t take the different eye to see them. We are not different.”
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Athenaeum’s new exhibitions usher in year of participation – The Retrograde
[…] Sole artist Cecilia Chiang is known for her personal touch on artistic pieces and “Whiskers and Paws” is no different. Her craft here anthropomorphizes members of her life, which can be felt in viewing the pieces’ vibrant use of space. […]