As his brush moves across the canvas, artist Jorge Garza embraces the freedom of expressing himself in a different medium.

Jorge, who moved to San Diego from Mexico in 1983 with his wife and two daughters to work as an architect, enjoys the opportunity to explore the visual art space without the constraints inherent in designing buildings.

“This freedom is exhilarating,” he explains, “as a bold stroke has to have no meaning or to be concerned with stability, just visual impact.”

The promotional artwork for the Akron Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade was provided by Jorge and captures the spirit of Sheherazade, the heroine of One Thousand and One Nights.

“I saw an image of a lady who is very similar to the finished painting and was fascinated by her,” Jorge said. “What I like to paint the most are portraits, and those eyes were so alluring I just could not resist it. I wanted to make an Arabian woman who is beautiful and mysterious, so I put my soul into it and I am quite happy with how it turned out.”

“I felt so honored that you chose that portrait because it has always been one of my sentimental favorites – I almost cried when I was asked to submit the artwork to the symphony as it is very dear to me.” – Jorge Garza

While he did not start out to paint a portrait that could be associated with Sheherazade, the music was never far from Jorge’s mind during the project.

“When I was a little guy my father would always play orchestral music and one of his favorite pieces was Sheherazade and I grew to love it as well,” he explained. “I was fascinated by the violin and, while I never played the instrument, I always enjoyed it. It was kind of a happy coincidence, but that was in my mind on a subconscious level because of the beautiful image of Sheherazade and the beautiful nature of the music.

“I felt so honored that you chose that portrait because it has always been one of my sentimental favorites – I almost cried when I was asked to submit the artwork to the symphony as it is very dear to me.”

Jorge’s art, which is owned by private collectors in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, South America and Australia, can be seen on his website, theartfussion.com.

Tickets for the Sept. 29 performance of Sheherazade, along with each of our concerts, are available online or by calling the Symphony Box Office at 330.535.8131.