Jon Hall 23 September 2009 Featured, San Diego 853 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I recently set up an Etsy Store for a local street artist (that is, an artist living on the street) in my neighborhood here in Golden Hill. She signs her art “incinders,” but her name is Cynthia.

Instead of pan-handling, Cynthia creates original, one-of-a-kind bookmark-sized original works of art and sells them on the streets of Golden Hill to passers-by. She creates her art on found scraps of cardboard, packaging, gum-wrappers, paper… whatever she can find. Using paint, markers and pens, Cynthia’s style is whimsical and expressive, which seems to stand in sharp contrast to the harsh reality of spending her days on the street.

Since moving to Golden Hill in Fall ‘08, I would buy Cynthia’s bookmark-sized art whenever I saw her on the street. Her story, only part of which I’ve heard, is one of heart-break and battling the demons of addiction. But hers is also a story of hope.

Inspired by her upbeat attitude and use of her talent to try and generate a meager income, I decided to help her out and sell some of her work for her online. Her art is the perfect size for a bookmark. A practical, original piece of art that can be used in your current read. For six or seven bucks, it seems like a deal. The Incinders Etsy store is here. Shipping is included. 100% of the money (minus Paypal’s few cents) goes to Cynthia.

There’s so many things that are good about Cynthia’s story, it’s hard to know where to begin. Creating instead of just taking. Giving new life to discarded things. The love and pursuit of art. The idea of bringing separate realities together… life on the streets together with life of folks in my world. As inspired as I am, there’s also sobering reality. Cynthia isn’t out of the woods. She’s still on the street, fighting her demons, looking for hope and her next meal.

After posting a handful of her works on Etsy, they sold in one day. Inspired, she created over a hundred new pieces for me to post. I’ll posting a few new works every day or two, so stop buy and have a look.

— Jon