|
Gallery
Home | Gallery Artist Archives | Submit
your work
Cindy Vargas
Continued
...  Vargas'
interest in woodworking took an artistic, sculptural approach almost from the
beginning. In high school, after a storm knocked over an elm tree in her family's
backyard, she brought an elm log to school "and chainsawed it into abstract
form," Cindy said. "It was a reductive process to find the form within
the log. Embarrassingly, my parents still display it."
Woodworking
was just one of many creative outlets for Vargas, her four sisters and brother.
They were exposed to art at a young age, fostering an interest that carried over
into their careers; the professions of Cindy's sisters are photographer, landscape
designer, interior designer and graphic designer. "We had a lot of art exposure
as kids, taking summer school art classes. My mom and dad love the arts and took
us to many shows at the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Institute of Arts,"
Cindy said. "It was just a natural talent and natural direction for us to
go in.
Flower
Cabinet
| In
college, Cindy attended the University of Minnesota and received a degree in anthropology.
She then worked in administration at the University's Department of Orthopedic
Surgery for 10 years. During that time she took numerous art classes at the university,
including ceramics, sculpture and drawing. In
1993, Cindy made the decision to pursue a career in the visual arts. She and her
husband, Ron, moved to Portland, Oregon, where she enrolled at Oregon College
of Arts and Crafts. There she received a bachelor of fine arts degree with concentrations
in woodworking, furniture design and fiber arts. They then moved from Oregon to
New York to Mississippi over a five-year period before landing in California.
"I've had sort of a vagabond career," Cindy said. "I actually dragged
my woodshop across the country each time. I keep joking that I'm just going to
buy a Ryder truck and put a generator in it and set up my shop in there. I can
set up and tear down a shop more efficiently than anyone I know." Now based
in greater Los Angeles, Vargas lives in Pasadena and has a studio in Glendale.
She shows her furniture at the Woodworker's Guild of Southern California gallery
in San Pedro, where she recently finished work as curator of the guild's holiday
show that ran through mid-December. She is currently collaborating with glass
artist Dar Horn of Union Art Works gallery in San Pedro on uniquely-designed doors
with art glass panels.  Cindy
works about 10 hours a day in her 600 square foot workshop ("which is about
half as much space as I want," she says), typically utilizing all the elements
of her artistic background to create pieces.
"A lot of it is pretty sculptural,"
she said. "I use a lot of color in fabrics and paints -- mainly milk paints.
Lately I've become more interested in exploring form, and less concerned with
surface design. I'm not sure where it's going to take me."
The
dance continues. Cindy
Vargas may be reached by e-mail or
by phone at (626) 676-7841. <<<
back to previous page Photographs
courtesy of Cindy Vargas
Text by Keith Wandrei | 
