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Cindi Olsman
Cindi Olsman rekindled her passion to be an artist in Mexico and now designs 15 foot puppets called Mojigangas.
Cindi Olsman
Website(s):
http://www.puppetsonparade.com/
Cindi: It was like an epiphany it was like o my god I want these
I want to be a part of these.
Cindi Olsman not only became part of these but designs these 15-foot tall dancing puppets called mojigangas.
Cindi: I brought this over from a little town in the central highlands of Mexico
called San Miguel de Allende in the city of Guanajuato. They are basically pageantry puppets, which means that they were crafted to march in parades and festivals. All the participants and people on sidewalk can see them coming.
You can certainly see them coming through the aisles of exotic furniture and rare collectibles from around the word at Material Culture in Philadelphia where they are displayed.
Linda: Look over yonder there they are there HUGE! 
Cindi: This is Frieda One, a caricature of the famous artist Frieda Kahlo and this is Frieda Two and then Marty he's a handsome guy! They are farcical comical giants each one has a personality.
Linda: You actually create their faces you make this out of paper mache.
Cindi: That’s correct. To this sculptural level it’s a lot of crafting.
The art of crafting Cindi learned from her partner Hermes Arroyo Guerrero who she met after setting her eyes and her sights the mojigangas and that was the beginning of a partner ship, a mentorship, and the beginning of puppets on parade.
Cindi: The mojigangas can be used as either static decorative sculptural art and the other part is the performance. It says, “come on, we’re going to party.” It just sets the mood, that this is bigger then life this is fun.
Especially at weddings
Cindi: we have a bride costume and he serves as a groom, he’s painted he's got like a six-pack with hair on his chest. Frieda One like Frieda Two is anatomically correct.
Linda: Not like my anatomy -- she’s quite large (laugh)
Linda: What made you think that there would be a place in the US for the mojigangas?
Cindi: It was just like an instinctive feeling that if I loved them this much, then there would be other people also that would love them. I was working as a psychologist and that was years ago and I had a lot of fear about becoming an artist and starving. It never went away and it was an ache this just grabbed every piece of me that was on ice for a while.
Linda: What do you think your teaching your daughter about following your passion at this time in your life?
Cindi: I think your gonna love puttin’ your hands in that paste, well you love it, so I'll love it too! I think she understands that life is a big classroom for all of us. 
And in an engineering classroom at Philadelphia University Cindi introduced these puppets for a redesign project to make them easier to carry.
Cindi: We need some kind of a harness to hold the weight of the head and the bust. If we use carbon fiber airplanes use the space shuttle material much easier to dance in this thing.
Cindi: Linda are you ready to become a mojigangera?
Linda: Oh, I can't wait! Let’s dance.
Cindi: Just get in now you’re a mojigangera
Cindi: You can reinvent yourself and find new meaning in different places and until you find what you want to be when you grow up like a big doll maker. (laugh)
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