Cindy Macias (she/her/hers) was one of our Winter 2022 recipients of The TRANSFORM Business Grants as part of the team at adæpt. Since concluding their year of mentorship with TRANSFORM, the members of adæpt have moved on to individual projects. Cindy recently celebrated the fourth anniversary of Cindita’s Tiendita and I chatted with her last month about her art and reaching this milestone.
Tell me more about your art. How have you gotten into art as an expression of yourself?
I started to do art consistently through therapy and haven’t stopped since. Building my art practice has helped me express a lot of things I can’t really put into words. Using art, I work through repressed memories and visualization and that’s literally healing me. I started Cindita’s Tiendita as a place for my healing made tangible.
Through art we can ask the questions, “What is your story? What story are you in?” Through therapy I have been able to weave together pieces of memory for the story I want to create. I ask myself, “What story are you in and what story are you creating?”
How do you find healing through your art?
I do this by being curious and chasing childlike joy. In addition to making my own art, I also teach art to littles. Their curiosity is very inspiring and their creativity is very inspiring. I’m always aware about how kids are coming to a material reality, not just in art but also in relation to the space they’re in. With the kids, I’m trying to plant seeds of being caring and kind and respectful.
What art process really brings it back to the heart for you?
Woodblock printmaking. I had an opportunity to create a group portfolio with a printmaking maestro and learned the techniques – linoleum, aquatint, etching. My final piece was wood. It was 13 colors – 12 layers all on one block. For each layer, I carved down the wood a little bit more so what I have left is just the end of the block I started from. This is called a reduction – to print and carve, print and carve – and the end of the block is called the key.
Printmaking is a metaphor for being intentional with supplies. Before in my art, I was more intuitive and would use whatever I had. With printmaking, it’s a lot more steps and I have to be very intentional. You can’t uncarve once you’ve done it. I also find my own relief through the process of relief printmaking.
When you look back 4 or 5 years ago to now, what comes up for you?
Know that there is sort of this timeline and that things change. Through therapy and art and creating the spaces I want to be in, I find that I create the spaces I want to be in today. There’s this movement away from being hopeless to being hopeful. That’s another thing that I get from the kids. They remind me to be hopeful because the world sucks right now. There’s always something going on and it’s important to ask, “How do we show up for ourselves?” I can lie to people about how I’m doing but I can’t lie to myself.
How do you purposefully bring anticapitalism into your work?
I have made a home at PLACE.LB (Place Long Beach) and I invite people into this space to learn and explore with me. I host Printmaking Mondays and buy everything out of pocket. I’m building community and teach people the more accessible ways of printmaking and artmaking, building around curiosity and teaching people a skill.
I also host a Second Sunday series (I love an alliteration!). I also do this at PLACE.LB. The idea is similar where people can come to a place and make art. We do jewelry making, sticker making, zines. I got a grant to invite other artists and pay them to share their knowledge. I hosted a zinefest last month.
I also want to host mobile gardening. I’ve expanded my community building into more than art making and these events have become a place for people to showcase whatever they want in the space. It’s really important for me to share my platform.
What are you interested in exploring next as an artist and a human?
In my personal practice, I want to do Super 8 film performance art. I look at artists like Ana Mendieta and her performances through Super 8 as inspiration.
This year, I will be teaching photography for the first time. Photography was the first thing I exhibited as a high schooler and I’m teaching at the same place I exhibited over ten years ago. This is such a full circle for me. There’s so much you can do with iPads now and focusing on the process of photography rather than creating the perfect technical image. I’m helping my students focus on the content of what they’re capturing and why they want to capture those moments.
My big dream is to have a physical location for Cindita’s Tiendita and have my vendor friends share their art from my shop.
Where can people find you coming up?
Printmaking Mondays are at PLACE.LB on Mondays. I was also accepted to the LA Printers Fair which is a two-day print fair in October. I’ll have my own prints and also prints from some people who come to Printmaking Mondays and will share and sell their art. It’s really important to physically share the space that I have access to.
Printmaking Mondays 7 to 9 PM every Monday
Second Sundays are monthly 12 to 4 PM
PLACE.LB is at 2172 Pacific Ave in Long Beach
The 17th Annual Los Angeles Printers Fair is October 11-12, 2025, at the International Printing Museum, 315 West Torrance Boulevard, Carson, CA 90745
Find Cindy on Instagram at @cinditas_tiendita and @cindy_is_as_cindy_does.
Questions about The TRANSFORM Business Grant?
Our next grant cycle opens for applications September 15-26, 2025. Find more information on our website at transformgrant.org/the-grant.