Nature of Heart

...true art is but the expression of our love of nature.

—Henry David Thoreau

Cindy Mueller of Marion, Ohio, brings a new level of sophistication to an ancient art. Her artworks are jet black and white with minimum detail and maximum impact. Resembling woodcuts, they are actually continuously hand-cut black artist's paper.

These one-of-a-kind, signed, and dated works reflect the influence of Japan where Cindy lived for a number of years. Her unusual technique produces an outlined image—a cross between a silhouette and a wood-cut—that can be picked up all in one piece.

Cindy first seriously experimented with paper cutting in the mid-1970s. She began working in traditional Western style with scissors, and then progressed to using a knife in the Oriental style. She is a graduate of Pratt Institute of New York City. Her formal illustration training is visible in her paper-cut designs.

Cindy's Invisible Currents Series displays the unique style and technique that mark her work. The series is a progression of natural metaphors which were commissioned to illustrate Wanda McGee's book, Invisible Currents--Nature's Lessons for the Mind and Heart. Cindy's technique gives personality to the long views of waterfalls and nature pathways and to the close-ups of flowers and animals.

"My paper-cutting technique is time-intensive," says Cindy "and is quite different from Western paper cutting such as the German 'Scheren Schnitte' or the Polish 'Wycinanck'." Cindy has given numerous lectures and workshops on the art form. Her Invisible Currents Series has earned two one-woman shows.

Do you have questions about Cindy's paper-cutting technique? We'd like to hear from you.

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