Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Burkett.
Hi Cindy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Painting with Recycled Papers Today, I’m an artist at The Hub on Canal in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and I show my work in other galleries and do commissions and shows. But this isn’t the way my life began.
We lived far west of West Palm Beach, Florida as a child. My mother didn’t drive, and we had no video or interactive games, so I started life as an isolated child with only her imagination as a company. It served me well later in life.
From elementary school through college at Florida State, I was always selected to draw things. From colored chalk on the blackboard to covers for high school plays, art was my thing. My parents encouraged me, and I even started doing commissions for adult friends as early as junior high school. I won many awards but had to consider how to make a living. The light bulb turned on when I won a monetary award in high school for a poster. That’s when I decided to take Advertising Design in college with a minor in Art History. I’d been writing poems and won awards for that all this time too. One included meeting a nationally known poet and having him read my poetry at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. Writing would also help later in my career when I had no copywriter handy. After college, I started working in the ad creation department at the Palm Beach Post newspaper. Unfortunately, their theory of design was to fill every possible white space in the ad, so the client got their money’s worth. I hated it and left after six months with no other job lined up.
Luckily while at the newspaper, I got freelance work and was introduced to the people who gave me my first real advertising design job. The creative director was highly talented and expected the best from me, so it was a good learning experience, but I felt the need to go out on my own. For several years I had my small agency with my husband and one other male working for me. This was when the women’s movement had started, but every salesperson walking in the door would ask for ‘Mr.’ Burkett. I loved telling them that I was the owner and he was the employee. Then the recession hit.
During this time; we dominated the local Addy Awards. One winner went on to regional and national, where we won a First Place National Addy award, the advertising industry’s equivalent of an Academy Award. I still have the statue!
I was handling the five DeBartolo malls in Florida, and through them, I ended up in Orlando at another small but highly creative ad agency. While in Orlando, we were asked by our multi-media friends across the hall to join them in pitching an international camera maker’s account. Many late nights later, we pitched against some of the biggest ad agencies in the country and won the account. The client required us to open an office in New York City. Having recently separated from my first husband, I was chosen to oversee the opening and operations and become the creative director. I was biting off a big chunk of the Big Apple, and it was both an exhilarating and lonely time since I went up there knowing no one. As I sat in my office directly on Madison Avenue, I could see Saks Fifth Avenue, and my apartment was across the street from Katherine Hepburn. I met her one morning while walking my dog and ran into many other celebrities during these years. I was doing ads and other work for the camera company that appeared in national newspapers, magazines, television, and an animated billboard in Times Square. We also gained a ski boot/bindings account and participated in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
However, this Florida girl hated the cold weather and returned after three years. Eventually, I opened my small ad agency and never had to hunt for work. It all came from referrals. That served me well for 25 years. With retirement looming in a few years, we got tired of the Orlando traffic and moved to charming New Smyrna Beach, one of the nation’s best small art towns. I could finally do only art and not be at clients’ whims. I heard The Hub on Canal was about to open and applied using my paintings for review. I became one of the original group of artists. At about that time, I took a workshop on collages from recycled magazines and got hooked. It was a great blend of my two loves.
The first collages I displayed sold right away, and the gallery asked me to continue that style since it was different from anything else in the gallery. Over the years, I’ve been invited to display at other galleries and museums in Ormond Beach, but I keep The Hub as my home base. I’m often asked to do commissions, primarily of sea creatures but also some personal pets like no other. My collages are done by selecting images randomly based on colors, textures, or content. My larger ones may contain hundreds of torn or cut pieces from recycled paper. The fun for me is I never know exactly what the result will be since it is based on my papers. They are stored in boxes by the predominant color, so instead of using paint, I pull out the box nearest the color I want. The textures and little unexpected hidden images make my work unusual and interesting. They are like creating a jigsaw puzzle backward. Many people say they look like paintings until they take a closer look!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect.
I was always shy because of my childhood, but I ended up having to face large groups of VIPs when I worked with big advertising accounts. I never overcame my shyness but pushed myself to make it in business.
What matters most to you?
At this point in life, I love the joy my art brings to people. It’s beautiful and fun at the same time.
Contact Info:
- Website: cindyburkett.com
- Instagram: crazy-collages on Instagram
- Facebook: Cindy Burkett on Facebook
