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CINDY DURANT – ARTIST STATEMENT

Cindy Durant spent her first twenty-two years in California. She now lives in Penong; on the far west coast of South Australia. After working in many fields including woodworking, yacht work, sewing, and many years of cooking, Cindy developed a great love for glass in the mid 80’s. From there Cindy has taken the occasional workshop but has mainly taught herself through trial and error. She now sells her unique glass work and jewellery throughout Australia. Many of her designs and inspirations come from her great love of the sea and the land.

Cindy lives on a large property near the coast at Cactus beach. The property is completely run on solar and wind power. The only water is rain water collected off of the roofs and stored in tanks. She has 7 kilns, three large gas fired kilns and four smaller electric kilns which she uses for her unique artwork. Over the years Cindy has developed many of her own methods and adapted others for her needs.

Cindy uses many methods to produce her glass work. Each piece she works on individually to create the designs she wants. Pieces are fired in the kilns between one and four times to temperatures up to 950 degrees Celsius. Each firing takes about 10-12 hours and sometimes as much as one week. Cindy uses no paints on her coloured pieces; all of the colour comes from powdered glasses she applies in many layers and very thickly to a clear or coloured glass base. These powders give the work a painted like quality. She has developed this technique herself because of the desire to express the colours of the sea, land and sky.

Cindy uses kiln forming, lampworking and casting to create her pieces. Works are assembled and fired to fuse, sometimes several times. If shaping is desired it is done in a separate firing into molds and at a lower temperature. Casting is basically the melting of glass into plaster molds made from clay models or models made from other materials to make sculptural forms. Lamp working is done over a propane/oxygen torch; glass rods are heated to a toffee like texture and sculpted into beads, etc. These are incorporated into jewellery or other elements. Combining these techniques makes for unlimited design possibilities. In her quest for perfection and to explore unique and new ideas Cindy is constantly experimenting with the endless possibilities in using her mediums. It is a journey with no end.

Cindy also makes jewellery using her glass and Precious Metal Clay, also known as PMC. She combines her hand crafted pieces with other materials in her unique one of a kind jewellery. PMC is a material that is made of pure fine silver particles, water and an organic combustible binder. It can be modeled and formed like clay but there is no clay in it. When it is finished being formed, dried and sanded, etc. it is fired in a kiln where the water and binders burn away and the fine silver particles sinter to become a pure silver object. This piece can then be finished any way you might finish silver, enameling, soldering, applying patina. There are also now similar products available in bronze and in copper. Cindy continues to research and develop her skills with these wonderful mediums. Cindy teaches these skills from her home studios and from locations around Australia.