“The Zhao Sisters” by Cassidy Boyuk

This weeks’s Spotlight on Art features The Zhao Sisters by FAA Graduate Cassidy Boyuk.

After remaining at The Florence Academy of Art for 6 months as a Graduate in Residence after completing her studies in December of 2021, Cassidy Boyuk returned to her home-state of of Ohio in the United States to open her own studio.

The Zhao Sisters is the first painting in a series of works by Cassidy titled "Sisters". Initially inspired by a dream, through intense observation, exploration, and skill it has become a reality that is able to move any who sit with it long enough to hear its story. Through this artwork and the Sisters series as a whole as she intends to follow it, Cassidy explores the complex relationships between women and even more, the deep bonds and effects of sisterhood.

In her own words below, the artist explains her intentions behind this symbolic artwork, as well as the challenges and novel practices she came across in its making! Every artwork tells a story, and just as every relationship between sisters is different, we hope you enjoy the unique story of The Zhao Sisters!

“This painting is first in a series of paintings I’m working on called “Sisters”. I worked on this painting in a studio in Columbus called Blockfort, which is an artist collective with roughly 20 other studios. Columbus, my hometown, has been a great place to make art in ever since I left Florence in 2021. For the most part, the artists in my studio all work in different mediums than I do, and I’ve been really inspired by their graphic sensibilities. It was a perfect environment to paint this piece, because there was a lot of contemporary influence as well as a lot of support for my love of classical realism.

View of Cassidy’s studio

The initial inspiration for this painting was actually a dream I had while still in Florence. In the dream, I was painting Jessica and Bonnie, two of my friends from Columbus, wearing red and green. I remember waking up and thinking that it was an interesting color combination, and that Jessica and Bonnie would be really striking as subjects. When I eventually moved home, I decided to try and compose it the way I remembered it looking. I wanted it to have a contemporary feel to it, so I started looking at editorial fashion photography for more inspiration.

Detail of Bonnie’s portrait

Posing the girls was probably my favorite part of the process. Being sisters, they had a chemistry that told a visual story immediately. It made me want to throw any preconceived ideas and compositional studies out the window. The two of them were so natural together that I didn’t want to insert myself too much into the posing process. They fell into a dynamic that, having a younger sister that I’m very close with, I recognized immediately. I loved Bonnie’s direct and challenging gaze and Jessica’s calm and dreamy expression. It reminded me of how protective I feel of my sister’s introspective and sentimental nature. I think it was during this posing process that I decided I wanted this to be a whole series. My technical process was similar to the process taught at The Florence Academy of Art. I started with a transfer drawing, then began an underpainting in raw umber and black, and then slowly added color.

Block-in stage of the portraits: Bonnie (top) and Jessica (bottom)

This was my first time painting tattoos. Both Jessica and Bonnie have a lot of tattoos. I knew I wanted to try and paint them, because I think that tattoos are an important marker of personal style and self-expression in my generation. Jessica is a tattoo artist, so it felt especially important to her portrait to include them. Mixing the right color and trying to keep anatomy in mind were challenging. Since painting Jessica’s tattoos, I’ve started including them on other portraits and found that I really enjoy doing them.

Detail of Jessica’s portrait with tattoos

In addition, I experimented with patterns in this painting. There was the obvious challenge of not making the patterned background so busy that it distracted from the subjects. It was a lot of push and pull, I’d go too detailed one day and have to tone it down the next.

Pattern development in the background

It was also my first painting with multiple figures. Making the girls look like they were in the same space was a challenge, and so was trying to portray the chemistry and energy between them so that it felt as strong as it looked on that first posing day.

Final stages of “The Zhao Sisters”

I’m hoping that with this series, each set of sisters has a different dynamic to portray. I think Bonnie is immediately recognizable as an oldest sister, her posture is poised and her expression is watchful. I projected a lot of my own little sister onto Jessica in this piece, because both have an imaginative and kind-spirited quality that older sisters can be especially protective of in their younger sisters.

Jessica posing on the stand next to the painting

In my next paintings in this series, I have some ideas of other dynamics I want to portray, but I also learned from this piece how important it is to react to your models and adapt to what they’re giving you. This painting, and the series, is about the uniquely feminine and complex relationships between sisters. I love the intensity of the bonds between women. I think that when women grow up together, they take on aspects of the things in the other that they admire, while also working to define themselves against each other. Sisters never grow up alone, and they shape each other into the women they become.”

- Cassidy Boyuk

More about Cassidy Boyuk:

Cassidy Boyuk is a Columbus, Ohio based oil painter. She began her classical training at 15 in an atelier in her hometown. She continued her education at The Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, where she studied for 3 years. Upon graduating, she was awarded a fourth-year residency and taught the Intensive Drawing program for a year. Cassidy is a three-time winner of the Congressional Art Awards and was awarded the first prize in the Art Renewal Center (ARC) scholarship program. She has exhibited internationally in Europe and the United States.

To view more work by Cassidy visit:

Instagram: @cassidyboyukart