DC Distinguished, the palatial presented purposely. . .
Once called Shades, the ever-popular silhouette rendering of a form or contour, can be done
in 50 shades of face-ons. However, when done properly, as seen at a recent DC wedding by
Cindi Harwood Rose, it goes deep into your outside and inside, in her intricate art cut-outs.
The Queen of silhouettes in the award winning, documentary, "Silhouette Secrets",
Cutting a silhouette from a person, in a few minutes, freehand, without a sketch is exciting to watch.
Astute silhouettes are done with an insightful eye, skilled hand, and intuitive mind.
Cindi Rose silhouette philosophy is based on the principles of gift exchange discussed in Lewis Hyde's seminal work, the Gift. Some artists will do silhouette profiles from pictures and by mail-order including Tim Arnold and Kathryn Flocken, who have mastered the art intricately. The all black silhouette, often seen in England and France is quicker to cut and mount at parties, it is less delicate. Often, it creates a very bold statement and a buzz of fun. European artists like to move around at parties, and not sit from one table, cutting faces.
Cindi's sister, Holly Harwood also hand-cut silhouettes at Disney World, and other charming events. She battled stage 4 cancer, and in her honor Cindi formed a non-profit The Holly Rose Ribbon Foundation for children and adult cancers and their families.
Artist, Clay Rice, has heart warming cut-paper books, with lyrics and music he performs nationwide. A silhouette artist at a private store can help retail stay alive, especially if they have the store ring up sales, and they offer a percent of earnings back to the store. Most silhouette artists offer retail operations and schools 15 to 25 percent of sales. Cindi says she tries to help private business stay alive by offering her live performance silhouette portraits, for them to profit from. She works a room in the European style, and also will dress in period attire, for Hamilton-style events.
At weddings, Cindi's silhouettes take the cake.
Cindi often silhouettes at corporate and fashion events as donations to hospital arts for cancer children. Google, Dell, and Microsoft have had Cindi scissors cut portraits live at conferences.
To cut a real likeness from merely looking, is a talent. Cindi has snipped portraits in silhouette over 35 years! The example below are some of Cindi Rose's own children, hand-cut by her 28 year's ago. www.http://silhouettesforsurvivors.org
The "lost art" method of silhouette arts includes examining a person's contour, as a line drawing, and using the interior of scissors to carve a likeness, on-the-spot, without a prior sketch. In the photo below, in the Charlottesville, Va., home of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, Cindi Harwood hand-cuts silhouettes at the world heritage museum, research institute, and presidential library, a private, non-profit organization. www.http://www.hollyroseribbon.org A popular house tour of the Monticello mansion now includes the cabin of John and Priscilla Hemings, who were enslaved, on MulberryRow. Gabriella Demczuk and Farah Stockman wrote a striking story about the new exhibit, featuring the "open secret" dedicated to Sally Hemings, who bore the founding father's children at the palatial plantation.
Cindi Harwood Rose has silhouetted for the Sarah and James Polk Museum, outside Nashville, to raise money for historical heritage as a fundraiser, several times. When asked where Cindi is based, she explains that a silhouette artist is not always based. She finds her bookings to be anywhere on the globe. This past 12 months she has silhouetted in Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, San Diego, Austin, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, DC, Reston, San Antonio, Houston, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Beaumont, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, New Jersey, Aspen, Charleston, Denver, Boulder, Sedona, San Jose, Augusta, Phoenix, Cleveland, Mountain View, Toronto, Bonita Springs, Memphis, Nashville, and many other cities. Her passion includes all art forms and is fondest of oil painting. Here, Cindi has hand-cut a popular Asian style paper-cut, normally done with a blade.
She supports all paper cutting arts through not-for-profit Guild of American Papercutters, or GAP, which incorporates hand-cut paper arts from cultures around the world. They can be joined for a small donation. You can easily Google their comprehensive website.
Her booking calendar, included a 29 city tour for Hermes Fragrance in the world's best department stores from the North Coast to the West Coast, to the East and South Coasts, to department stores, museums, private parties, corporate events, fundraisers, and charity events. She laughs and says, "Have scissors, will travel."
