About the Poet and Artist

Cecily Markham

Artist Bio

My life in art began as a child. I grew up in an intrinsically artistic home. I have had some formal art training and courses in live model figure drawing & painting, figure sketching, oil and acrylic painting, work in charcoal drawing, and art installation. Beyond this formal training, I am self-taught.

I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia near Washington DC and had the good fortune of spending much of my childhood and young adulthood visiting the array of premiere art galleries in Washington DC - seeing exhibits of both the art masters and contemporary artists. I’m most inspired and influenced by Dutch Baroque painter Rembrandt, Impressionist painters, such as Monet, and Renoir, Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh, along with American Modernist artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko, contemporary artist Dale Chihuly, and architect-sculptor and writer, Maya Lin.

I have received awards & publication for paintings & photography from Light Space Time Online Art Gallery including: Special Recognition for the painting, “The Dream Of The Opening” in the Fourth Primary Colors Art Exhibition November 2022; Special Recognition for the painting, “Meetings”, in the Twelfth All Women Art Exhibit ; and for the photograph, “The Stream” February 2023; Special Recognition for the painting, “The Way The River Holds The Night”, and for the photograph, “How many Souls Have Pondered This Sea” in the Fourteenth All Women Art Exhibition January 2025.

In September 2025, I won an Artistic Honor Award from the Circle Foundation for the Arts, headquartered in Lyon, France, in the Art Ideal Book Cover Contest, for my painting, “The Colors of my Mother”.

I have experience with and have created work for both a private commission and public art on permanent display with Pope John Paul II High School in Lacey, Washington for my painting, “So Much Light”. A photograph and prints of this painting were also later used as marketing material for a play put on by the school, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.

I am an abstract-expressionist and integrated arts artist. My artistic pieces encompass: minimalist drawings & sketches; large oil & acrylic paintings; soft pastel and charcoal drawings; gel pen work on art sketch paper, photographs, and art installations-along with works of my original poems sandblasted on stone-such as marble, granite, slate, and poems etched onto glass, printed on rice paper, and wall hangings of silk. *(The sandblasting of my poetry onto stone has been done by a professional stone carver whom I have worked with collaboratively).

I have presented numerous art exhibits & art installations including solo exhibits in art galleries, a variety of arts events and festivals, schools, charity events, and spiritual centers.

Art is what I seek to make emotionally moving, and hopefully transformative to others.

Sometimes things happen I do not expect. I allow myself the gift of surprise.

Poet Bio

I am a poet, artist, and integrated arts presenter. I was raised in an artistic home, and I have had a life in poetry since childhood. I graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Nursing. In my work as a poet, I often draw from the insights and understandings of the human experience, and the human story, which significantly evolved from my previous practice as a nurse. As a poet, I have received multiple awards in poetry. My chapbook: Sisters in Rain, won first place in the national competition, the 7th Annual Women’s Words Award, published by Still Waters Poetry Press in 1997.

Since that time, I have had poems published in poetry anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. Some examples include: in May 2016, I won second place in a nation-wide poetry competition for a poem entitled, The Wishing Stone, published in Hospital Drive-The Literature and Humanities Journal of the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine. My poem, The Corner of Water Street and Fifth Avenue was published in September 2018, in I Hear Olympia Singing: An Anthology of Olympia Poetry, published through the City of Olympia, Poet Laureate Program in Washington State. In May 2020, I had a poem entitled, Mist, published online, with the Washington State Poet Laureate Program project, Poems to Lean On – as well as other online publications of my poetry. In 1998, I won a Bart Baxter Performance Poetry Award sponsored by the Washington State Poetry Association. I have also won first and second place awards in poetry with The Shoreline Arts Council of Seattle, Washington.

My full length poetry book, Lipstick, Old Keys, and The Hand Held Mirror, received an: Honorable Mention, in the Laureate Prize poetry competition with Harbor Editions in January 2024.

In December 2024, I won two poetry awards for poems: I am a woman now of many years, and muse, with Writer’s Digest magazine’s 19th Annual Poetry Competition.

In my work as a poet, I have presented poetry workshops and presentations in my home state, and the Pacific North West. I’ve also provided various artist-in-residencies as a Poetry & Integrated Arts Educator in school settings and have performed poetry in a variety of venues – theater, performing arts and cultural centers, spiritual centers, charity events, and arts & sciences organizations.

In September 2020, I gave a virtual poetry presentation with participants joining the workshop from across the United States, Canada, and Ireland.

My vision for my work in poetry is to creatively bring this fine art to many - promoting a deep resonance with the beauty and transformative power of literature. Engaging a broad and diverse audience of readers and listeners, I invite poetry to tender for others contemplation and reflection, personal growth, and proffer feminine empowerment. My hope is for making poetry emotionally palpable.

All poems appearing on this website and all art works, including paintings, photographs exhibited and used to

White horse photograph courtesy of Kristin O Karlsen on Unsplash.

Breast Cancer Journey

I am a breast cancer survivor twice in my life. The first time, 26 years ago, and the second time, 20 years later. In September of 2020, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and I am still on the journey. Having experienced breast cancer in my life, I never really had any inclination to tell my story publicly, until the fall of 2024. With all the challenges I was experiencing, I woke up one autumn morning, and had an epiphany. In that clarion moment, I felt: “It is time to tell my story.”

On that crisp, clear day, I decided I would write a book of poems on my breast cancer journey. This collection of poems is a work in progress entitled,

“This Is Where The Light Gets In”

My personal journey through Breast Cancer

Poems & Reflections

I do believe the experience of breast cancer is a journey. A very difficult but powerful journey.

I like to think of myself as not just a breast cancer survivor, but as much as possible, as best as I am able, as long as I am able, I reach every day to be a breast cancer survivor-thriver.

I believe it is in that reaching, the spirit within that reaching - is where the light gets in.

The title poem to the book,

“This Is Where The Light Gets In” will be published in the spring-summer issue of, ImagiNews ~ The Journal of Imagery International.

Other Works:

Cecily has two full poetry manuscripts and one chapbook seeking a publisher.

Reviews

NEWS RELEASE: Still Waters Poetry Press… has named Cecily Markham…, winner of the publishing house’s 7th Annual Women’s Words Poetry Competition for her manuscript:

Sisters in Rain.

‘The editor, Shirley Warren, describes Markham’s…chapbook as, “a major departure from the usual ‘controlled emotion’ poetry that usually finds top prize in competitions. Cecily Markham’s poems are utterly passionate; the entire universe steps in to represent intense familial love and the arresting power of hope. A vibrant soul inhabits her work, giving the book an abundant verbal sustenance that clings. Sisters in Rain is a courageous lyrical journey marked with brilliant language”.

“It was my distinct pleasure to be present for Cecily’s presentation at the annual conference of Imagery International. Cecily Markham presented her masterful poem:

Lipstick, Old Keys, and The Hand Held Mirror.

Her workshop was one of the highest of caliber…there is tremendous depth and power in her work…Her presentation stayed with me on many levels long after it was over…I imagine that different people take away different gifts after experiencing Cecily’s work. For me, it healed an old wound that I had been carrying around for years, and cannot thank her enough!

Cecily is a superb speaker. She is kind, dynamic, and approachable. Speaking for myself and those around me, we left her talk inspired and hungry for more…”

— Maureen Minnrehan-Jones

RN and Guided Imagery Practitioner

Author of: Wisdom to Wellness: Healing Your Emotional Sufferings so the Physical Healing Can Follow