Biography
Cecile Johnson Soliz (b. Landstuhl, Germany 1957) grew up in Merced in the San Joaquin Valley in California, USA. She has also lived in Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Italy and Ghana before moving to Cardiff in 1975 to study on the foundation course at Cardiff College of Art. She later studied fine art as an undergraduate and a postgraduate at Goldsmiths’ College, London (1976-80 & 1987-89), where she lived for 20 years. She returned to Cardiff as the Henry Moore Fellow in Sculpture at Cardiff School of Art & Design (1995-1997) and settled there becoming Senior Lecturer, Head of Fine Art and Programme Leader in Sculpture at CSAD between 1998 and 2011 as well as having a studio in the city centre. From 2013-14 she was a recipient of a Major Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales. In 2017 she was awarded the Gold Medal in Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod and in 2018, won the Oriel Davies Open. Her most recent exhibition, TWIST was at the Oriel Davies Gallery and Exploratory Dances for Drawing and Sculpture launched the Cardiff Dance Festival (both 2019).
