Cindy Sampson….
Where do I start? Probably best to start where you might recognize her from. Of course, you probably don’t recognize her, unless you’re from Fisher, IL. You are more likely to recognize some of her more famous pieces of art. No, you won’t find them in a gallery or in a collectors home. Rather you would have found them plastered all over merchandise in stores like Kohls, Target, Walmart, etc. Below is one of Cindy’s most famous pieces depicting a few cats.
How does one get their image sold on products in such huge stores? How is it that we have someone who has achieved this living in our town and we don’t all know her?
To answer the first question, artists can get hooked up with publishing companies—which is what Cindy did early in her career. How did she do this? She was discovered at an art show, where she was showcasing the painted antique furniture she was making. Someone said, “I have a publishing company that would love your stuff.” The next thing Cindy knew, the company was calling her and printing her cats on everything from cups to pillows.
Cindy’s fame grew enough that she was traveling around the Midwest, signing autographs for fans at art shows. “Fame is not what you think it is,” she told me. “Once you get there, it’s different. I had people in my own hometown that never before had noticed me, now wanting to come to my house for coffee.”
You may be thinking of googling her name by now, and I encourage you to do so. Just add “artist” in with your search, otherwise you end up finding an actress.
Cindy has since moved on from the publishing company where she got her start. She still makes “stock” pieces of art that larger companies buy and reproduce—mostly cards now like the ones you get in the mail reminding you of your dentist appointment. (Check your dental mail—that very well could be Cindy’s.) She is also practicing what she calls “recycled art,” using recycled material that she finds to create pieces of art. These pieces tend to be darker and grittier. “That [the stock pieces of art] pays the bills, but this [recycled art]… this is me” Cindy says.
People have called her work “steampunk,” but Sampson disagrees. “My work is similar to steampunk, but not on purpose. The pieces of recycled material decide how a piece is going to look. And often that is a harder, grittier piece.”
Cindy says that ideas get into her head and the only way she can get them out is through her art. At times she may take an idea and build it into many different art projects. She says the ideas rattle around in her head until she finally puts together a piece that satisfies the thought. For example, the piece below has been transformed into both a sculpture and a painting. Of the experience, she explained, “I was talking to someone, and all of a sudden it hit me: ‘I have to do a series of these, that is what I have to do.'”
In addition to her commercial (stock) art and fine art, she also creates jewelry. And it is made (you guessed it) from recycled materials. “I am a big environmentalist. Always have been,” she said. “I try and give everything a purpose.”
I have to say that, as I find myself burning through material goods, I find her inclinations to be very noble. And besides being environmentally friendly, the work is also quite eye-catching.
Cindy is probably the first “real” artist I’ve ever met. And by real artist, I mean the total stereotype of an artist. Her work area is full of tools and pieces of art. “My friends laugh and laugh at my work space because it’s so messy, and I say, ‘I just cleaned it!'” she said as she showed me around.
It’s clear that she walks the walk of a real artist; it was refreshing to learn that she also talks the talk. I got to speak with her about real artist issues—and about the real state of art in Champaign-Urbana.
“It’s hard. It’s hard in this area for artists” Cindy told me. “We have so many talented, serious artists in this town, yet their work isn’t getting picked up by the community members.”
Flash back with me to a few months ago, at Indi Go, when there was a show benefiting the Wounded Warriors Project. There were locally-known artists, donating the proceeds from their work to build a facility for wounded warriors. Can you guess how many of those pieces were purchased?
3 or 4. Out of the entire gallery. “People in this town don’t want to pay for art,” one of the artists from that show said. Flash forward now to my conversation with Cindy Sampson. “People go up to Chicago and buy big, expensive, pieces of art costing thousands of dollars,” she said. “They come home and they’re more proud of who they bought it from than they are of the art. There are many artists here, in Champaign-Urbana, doing fantastic, deserving work. Why are we driving to Chicago for art?” she asked.
I can’t answer Cindy’s question. I can’t even verify that this is the reality. But, for at least one artist, it is a very cold, hard, truth.
Flash back again to the artist to whom I was talking at Indi Go: “I am taking my art to a bigger city. People will buy it up there. They won’t buy it from me down here, in Champaign.”
So where is art going? Literally and metaphorically? According to Sampson, “The art market is changing. All of the big art buyers are getting older. They’re on fixed incomes, and they’re not buying up the art like they were. The new generation isn’t buying art for their walls. They want to carry their art with them.”
Cindy continues to make art in her studio but may be on the streets soon. “They just sold out to another company, and I don’t know if they’re going to let us stay,” she explained, concerned.
“There’s a picture of me painting as a baby,” she said. “I’ve been doing this my whole life. I eat, breath, sleep art.”
If you’d like to see more of Cindy Sampson’s art, you can catch her at many of the local hot spots for art, including: The Holiday Market, the Farmer’s Market, and the Hatch Show: a creative-reuse art festival, Indigo, February 26—28.
You can also check her out on Facebook.