SEQUIM LAVENDER FESTIVAL®
MANGUTZ: FEATURED FESTIVAL ARTIST
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38 • Sequim Gazette & Peninsula Daily News
Cindy Mangutz began painting at an early age in Southern California and was commissioned by one of her mother’s friends at the age of 16 to paint a conquistador. By her early 20s she knew that art was her calling! After marrying woodcarver Steve Mangutz and moving to Leavenworth, they flourished as artists and their careers took off at “Art in the Park.” Cindy turned her focus to a primitive style of painting while Steve began a line of incredibly detailed Santa Clauses. They opened their first shop North Wind Gallery. They both were selected by the Bill Dodge Folk Art Gallery in Carmel, Calif., where they sold original paintings and wood carvings for three years. In the early 1990s the couple and their two children moved to Port Townsend where they opened another shop that was shared by many artists. They began to participate in more and more arts and crafts fairs including the harvest festivals in California and are still “old permanent fixtures” at many of Pacific Northwest shows. Cindy’s influences include Grandma Moses and Charles Wysocki and her inspiration is from the natural beauty found in the Pacific Northwest. You can see her visualization of the sea in the brilliant watercolors shown in her nautical art and the many shades of green from the forests found in her landscapes. Steve makes bentwood twig furniture as well as carving gnome and Santa figures. Cindy paints every opportunity she can and her medium of choice is acrylic on canvas or Masonite to create her visions. When the couple is not traveling to shows, you can find them at their home working on new paintings and carvings on their 10 acres of rugged undeveloped land consisting of numerous recycled structures i.e.; an old converted school bus with a stick built addition, several various small buildings and an old wooden boat that is no longer seaworthy perched on the land. They just recently acquired a freshly retired converted school bus (Hippie Hilton as the seller described it) that has become Cindy’s new art studio!
Sequim Lavender Weekend 2014