Paula Arciniega

About The Artist

Born and raised in Portland OR and now living in Toronto ON Paula has spent her career discovering her own unique style of artistic expression inspired by her deep love and understanding of music and rhythm. For the past 15 years Paula has been weaving together two artistic paths; one as a vocalist and the other as a painter. Paula holds a Master Degree in vocal performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2004), has performed with many San Francisco Bay area opera companies, and is actively performing in the Toronto area. Paula’s musical background, combined with her unique ability known as Chromesthesia or sound-to-color synesthesia, (a well known condition often found amongst musicians and artists alike) have enabled Paula to connect and collaborate with world-class organizations and people. As an artist Paula has sold her artwork across 4 continents. Paula’s work was featured on the cover of the inaugural program as part of the Toronto Symphony’s “Art & Music Series” in 2015. Paula actively seeks out opportunities to combine her colourist compositions with the energy of live music. Paula has installed “art-scapes” with several musical organizations such as Hamilton Philharmonic with Maestro James Sommerville at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and in Toronto with Group of 27 and music director Eric Paetkau. Paula has also collaborated artistically with musical colleagues such as Achilles Liarmakopoulos (Tbn Canadian Brass) and Grammy nominated New York Piano Quartet (New York Chamber Music Festival). Paula became a member of Toronto’s Distinguished Heliconian Club in 2014 in both the music and art divisions. Paula lives and works out of her studio in Toronto with her husband and 3 children. Paula interlaces her love of music with her distinctive style of painting. She delves deeply into the musical form of a composition and translates the essence of a work into a visual panorama. Paula moves effortlessly between the aural realm of musical gesture and the visual realm of shape & colour.