We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cindy Debold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cindy below.

Cindy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Being a creative usually, involves doing research and/or learning a new skill which I really enjoy. Making art fully engages my brain and time just flys by. Sometimes I have wondered what a regular job would be like – I’d probably work less hours. But I’ve also come to realize that an artist needs to make art to be truly happy, even if just for a few hours a week.

Cindy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We lived in my father’s hometown in Kentucky until I was 6, then we moved to Florida. Three years later we moved to Aguascalientes in Mexico, where my mom’s family was from. During those 2 years I learned to speak, read, and write in Spanish. We then moved to Southern California where I went from the 6th grade through four years of college, majoring in art. Soon after college I married and moved to Chicago, Illinois, where my two sons were born. Finally settling in Texas about 35 years ago, where I told myself, “If you’re ever going to be an artist it is now or never!”

I actually decided to be an artist, when I was eight years old, after visiting my uncle’s art studio in Mexico. Having no idea how I was going to do it, just having faith it would happen. After saying to myself in Texas, “it is now or never”, I still had no idea what medium to use so I enrolled in several art classes to find out. It was just after starting my first sculpture class, and felt my fingers just naturally knew what to do, that I decide to do sculpture.

Through the years making art the general public can see and enjoy has been what motivates me the most. My creative ideas usually begin with a pencil sketch, then I make a small 3D version in clay before enlarging to the size I deem best for the final piece. Eventually I turn some of them into bronze, stainless steel, wood or a combination. I make molds of most of my sculptures and sell them in limited editions. Most of my work has been figurative, both realistic and abstract. I have some of each in many private collections and in public collections, such as: several cities sculpture gardens, performing art centers, a convention center, along with a few colleges, The White House collection and several libraries.

Since I love biographies of figures who have risen to the challenge in difficult times. Recently I finished three eleven inch tall busts of figures who have inspired me the most; President Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass. This is the second bust I’ve made of Douglass but the third of MLK and Lincoln. A life size bust I made of MLK was bought for an Civil Rights Exhibit in the Eisenhower Building, in Washington, DC. in 2014. Over 500 of my nine inch tall busts of MLK have been sold at the King Center and the Civil Rights Museum.

It is exciting how the internet and technology have changed the way art is made. Now a sculpture can be scanned, reduced or enlarged, making it so much easier to make sculpture in various sizes. Maybe some day your local sculpture garden or museum will have one or more of my historical busts or large outdoor sculptures? You can contact me about my sculpture through my website at: cindydebold.com

Surface Pattern Designer

A few years ago as Covid was starting I heard of Surface Pattern Design and fell in love with the idea of making fabric designs. At first you’d think sculpture and surface pattern design are so different, but they do have something in common, they each deal in spatial relationships and that is what really engages my brain. After deciding to take online courses to learn Photoshop and Illustrator, I asked my son Casey to help me start deboldart.com in order to sell our art prints and surface pattern designs on (Print on Demand) POD sites. It’s been fun and challenging learning something new.

We now have over three-hundred designs in our Deboldart shop at Spoonflower.com, which specializes in print on demand on fabric, and home decor items such as wallpaper and bedding sets. Our designs are organized into coordinated collections that look good together, saving time for buyers who want to mix and match in the comfort of their own home. Spoonflower.com has the added benefit in helping small business owners and interior designers to connect and collaborate with surface pattern designers to create unique designs for their clients.

Our Deboldart shops at Society6 and Redbubble have our designs on many products including ones that make cute and affordable gifts. Check them out too.

Our website: deboldart.com has links to all three of our POD shops. The making and marketing of art is continually changing! So, there is always something new to learn.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

In my opinion, learning to trust your intuition and experiencing the joy of just doing it is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I believe each part of our journey through life, teaches us something and is important for reaching our purpose. It is obvious now how all the detours were important learning experiences to get me where I am today. The skills and confidence I gained in my first jobs after college, beginning with learning bookkeeping and then learning to be the sales rep for our creative business was invaluable. Better yet was learning how to invest our extra money in rental property that first needed to be gutted, remodeled and then managed. That skill later, made it possible for me to make art full time without placing the stress or burden of making a living, on the art. That gave me the freedom to make the art I wanted, and to only accept commissions I really was interested in making. I had to live very frugally at first but it paid off eventually.

Contact Info:

• Website: cindydebold.com, deboldart.com

Image Credits
I photographed most of the photos attached, my son and husband took one each.