The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 157, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 11, 2010 Page: 3 of 21
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wni JBastrop adoertiscr • Page A3
Local artists merging creativity, 'green designs
BY JOAN RUSSELL
Special to the Advertiser
It's all the rage to re-
cycle and operate in the
"green," but for two local
artists, it's nothing new.
The two talented wom-
en are Cynthia I nden and
Martha Granger, artists
who create original work to
sell and are an interesting
study in differences and
similarities.
The most obvious and
striking similarity between
these two women is that
they both create their work
exclusively from recycled
materials.
Linden, creates what
she calls "sculptural objects
of functional art." Doing
business as A Pain in My
Glass, she creates bowls,
framed mirrors and picture
frames soldered into mosa-
ic forms, made with things
she finds and rescues from
all over the world. Linden
collects broken pieces of
tems from forgotten cor-
ners and wherever lost
and discarded treasures go
when they die.
Granger haunts thrift-
shops, charity garage sales
and resale shops for the
printed vintage T-shirts
she uses to fashion one-of
a-kind halter tops to sell
under the company name
Fringe Me! Granger dis-
covered that the more
crackled, faded and beat
up a printed picture on a T-
shirt, the more desirable it
s to a buyer.
The creative natures of
both these Bastrop women
see fresh beauty and use-
fulness in what is left in an
object after it has ceased to
fulfill its original purpose.
Influences of the lives the
materials have touched
still cling and the auras of
this involvement add value
to re-invented and recre-
ated items.
Both these women take
their art and craft quite se-
riously, but neither takes
herself too seriously. Both
love what they do and
speak of "getting lost in the
creative zone" for hours on
end.
Both are business-
women who profit from
what they make. Linden
has outlets in New York
City and major northeast-
ern markets. She offers her
pieces for sale exclusively
11 Texas at Cripple Creek
and Co. on Main Street in
Bastrop. Granger sells her
halter tops at street festi-
vals in Austin and Bastrop,
at biker rallies and through
her e-Bay store.
During conversations
with these two women it
becomes evident that al-
though there are many
similarities, there are pro-
nounced differences.
Fireworks display
Linden doesn't just
sparkle when she talks,
an interview with her is
like having a conversation
with a fireworks display.
She speaks of working as
an artist for more than 30
years because, she says, "I
don't know how not to do
art." When asked about
&
Cynthia Linden uses recycled bits of just about everything to create her
unique items, like this mirror.
Contributed photos
Martha Granger takes vintage T-shirts and turns them into wildly-popular
halter tops and dresses.
the difference between art
and craft, Linden defines
the two: "Craft can be rep-
licated, art cannot."
Because she lived on
the island of Maui in Ha-
waii for many years, Lin-
den was very much aware
that landfill space on an is-
land is limited and sources
of new materials are also
limited. She realized that
reusing these non-raw ma-
terials saves the land from
use as dumpsites and also
conserves the raw materi-
als.
She roots through junk
drawers, attics, trash cans,
gutters, landfills and piles
and heaps of stuff washed
up by hurricanes. As alert
as a magpie, she searches
through the flotsam and
jetsam for a shiny fragment
such as a perfectly good bro-
ken bottle somebody threw
out to become grist for her
creative mill.
Linden calls her cre-
ations a multi-cultural quilt
of materials from all over.
Buttons, broken pottery,
china and glass, or a single
earring, each with a history
of belonging to someone and
a story of its own coalesce in
concert in the mosaic of a
piece. These fragments of
living communicate some-
how as they are chosen to
fit into spaces in the mosaic
art. They let the artist know
just where they want to be
placed in the finished piece.
Linden often creates
new objects on commis-
sion from the pieces of
such things as grand-
ma's turkey platter that
crashed onto a tile floor
one Thanksgiving Day.
Linden will be giving
workshops on how to cre-
ate mosaic art from a box
of stuff that can't be used
but can't be thrown away
either. Inquire about the
next class at Cripple Creek
and Co. at 928-A Main St.
in Bastrop, 512-332-2477.
On the fringe
Granger backed into
her unique business by way
of another Texas business.
She was an executive at
Dell in Austin for 11 years.
Granger's Fringe ME!
creations are soft and
wearable versions of re-
cycling craft. Vintage T-
shirts, with nifty concert
tour pictures from bygone
days and sports team lo-
gos, many out of print, are
cut and re-sewn into halter
tops with ties around the
neck and waist. Some are
cut into fringe with bead-
ing added.
Granger has several
hundred halter tops for
sale on her eBay store and
sells at biker rallies such
as the Republic of Texas
Rally in Austin as well as
at street festivals around
Central Texas.
Bandanas embellished
with crystals are available
and Game Day Dresses in
team colors with logos that
are worn strapless by fans
on hot days, and over T-
shirts for cooler weather,
events are another favor-
ite item.
Granger has entered
into promoting the busi-
ness life of Bastrop in a big
way. She is an active and
talented volunteer in the
Downtown Business Alli-
ance and the Main Street
Program.
These two energetic
and talented women are
major assets to the cre-
ative life of Bastrop.
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Wright, Cyndi. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 157, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 11, 2010, newspaper, March 11, 2010; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252664/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.