Jan 28, 2020
Born in New Jersey and
raised in New York's Hudson Valley, Cynthia Marie loves to drive
cross-country - she's done it six times. On one of those
trips, she found herself nearly out of gas and calling Roy's in
Amboy, CA, asking them to keep the pumps open for just a bit longer
so she could gas up and make it to Joshua Tree for the night. As is
the desert way, the obliged.
Still working in graphic
design, Cynthia went to art school to study Printmaking. The school
required their sophomores to take one class that felt out of their
comfort zone - Cynthia chose metal fab(rication) sculpture and fell
in love. Cynthia has worked in both the artistic and production
sides of welding. Starting making furniture and then moved over to
the production side which found her working on huge entertainment
sets in Hollywood and Las Vegas and even to Rio de Janeiro building
the NBC stage for the Olympics. In the
episode she talks about the challenges of working out
of the country, which included some difficulties getting clean
laundry.
Once in the desert, Cynthia
quickly found herself meeting local folks through volunteering with
the Desert Institute, where she continues learning and experiencing
the desert up close and personal.
Photo credit: @hidesertshredder