Artist Statement
In my world, color is what stimulates me most. Glorious colors can be found in nature: flowers, sunsets, rainbows after a storm, or the iridescence in a seashell. I have a drive to create harmonious color schemes in my jewelry and apparel but always like to throw in an unexpected color to offset that harmony in a surprising twist.
I am currently in a phase of exploring intricate Florentine, Moroccan, Etruscan, and Byzantine patterns and re-interpreting them in my own creations. I don’t always succeed, but when I do, it’s a transcendent moment in the artistic process.
I never stop learning. I take classes throughout the year, both in-person and online. It’s the greatest thing to learn a new skill or technique and then combine it with what you already know.
A favorite overheard comment at my Sawdust Art Festival booth: “Wow, THESE are different, come look at this!” That’s what I try to do: combine my various disciplines (metal, clay, paint) into a creation that visitors enjoy and I am proud of. At the end of the day, it brings a smile to my face.
Artist Bio
Cindy Stalnaker was encouraged early in life to pursue an artistic path. Her parents bought educational gifts during her childhood, including painting and drawing sets, a printing press, woodburning pen, scientific equipment, and weaving looms. Art classes in school were always her favorite. Her father, a “car guy” and weekend Jaguar restorer, taught her how to re-upholster her 1964 TR-4 at the age of 17.
Upon graduation from high school, she studied Fine Arts at the Silvermine College of Art in New Canaan, CT, but when the college lost its funding, she decided to migrate to New York City to major in Advertising at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She later transferred to the University of Bridgeport (CT) and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing.
Twenty-two years later, after a successful career as an Advertising Media Director, she decided to return to her artistic roots. She studied metalsmithing and glass fusing/slumping at eight different studios in Southern California. She also trained in classical Venetian/Murano glass beadmaking techniques in Murano, Italy, and tried her hand at glassblowing in Sweden. She appeared on HGTV’s That’s Clever crafting show and has also accumulated 55,000+ views of her silk water-marbling video on YouTube!
Current artistic passions include silk water-marbling, dichroic glass fusing/casting, metal clay, polymer clay, block-printing, metal electroforming and anodizing. She maintains a Laguna Beach studio, but loves working from home best, entertained by her husband and two fur kids.