Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Cindy Martin, artist…and more
At a glance: Cindy Martin grew up enjoying horses and painting, then later became a horse trainer and a professional artist. She also followed her daughter’s interests in Olympic weightlifting. She and her husband, Phil, also design and install radiant heat systems all over the Midwest from their home in rural Kansas.
More information: Ron Wilson, rwilson@ksu.edu, 785-532-7690
Photos: Ron Wilson | Cindy Martin
Website: Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Nov. 19, 2025
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
Artist, weightlifter, equestrienne – and radiant heat system designer. That is a diverse resume which reflects the varied gifts and talents of on rural Kansas woman.
Cindy Martin is an accomplished artist and horse lover whose interests have diversified into weightlifting and radiant heat systems. She grew up riding horses on her family’s wheat farm in Nebraska. As a child, she also enjoyed painting. “In high school, teachers were buying my paintings,” she said.
At right: Cindy Martin | Download this photo
Cindy graduated from Kansas State University in animal sciences and met and married Phil, whose father was a general foreman at Jeffrey Energy Center in Pottawatomie County. Phil served in the Marines in Vietnam where he earned three purple hearts.
Phil was a plumber and pipefitter at the energy center. He and Cindy moved to Onaga in 1983 and raised a family. She also broke and trained horses. As she had the opportunity to paint, her art caught the eye of people around her.
“I always painted on my own,” Martin said. “It’s not a job, it’s a passion.”
She was asked to create murals and paintings for various businesses. Professionally, she signs her paintings as Cynthia Martin.
When the Onaga school built a new gym, she was asked to do a painting of the school mascot on a large space. When the work was completed, she was complimented: “We thought you would do a silhouette but you did a Rembrandt.”
In the 1990s, she was selected to create her largest work: A painting on the 30-foot tall, 100-year-old silo in the Oregon Trail Nature Park northeast of the rural community of Belvue, population 177 people. Now, that’s rural.
This massive task required 56 gallons of primer. She painted the upper levels on a power lift. Her work depicts three scenes: Oregon Trail travelers, Native Americans with buffalo, and various kinds of wildlife. This work of art attracted attention from visitors from as far away as New Zealand and Holland.
Her favorite medium is oil on canvas, which she produces and sells. Martin has produced custom paintings for the Oz Museum, book covers, illustrations, and other museums, private homes and churches.
A favorite project was creating personalized and customized paintings for every resident of a senior living home in Kansas City.
“The activity director at this nursing home in Kansas City had the idea to create individualized images for the room of each resident,” Martin said. This became a labor of love, as she got acquainted with each resident.
“For each resident, I created (an image of) their home,” Martin said. “One man said that he always wanted to live on a beach, so for him I painted a scene with the ocean in the background.”
For 30 years, Martin taught community art classes in Onaga. She also served 10 years as the horse 4-H project leader in Pottawatomie County.
Meanwhile, the Martin’s daughter, Anna, pursued Olympic style weightlifting and ultimately opened a gym in the Kansas City area.
After Cindy had a cancer diagnosis, she was going to Kansas City for treatments.Cindy stayed with Anna, who taught her about weightlifting. Eight months later, Cindy was cancer-free.
Cindy became so interested in weightlifting that she went on to compete at the Masters level (for those age 35 or older) and won a bronze medal at the world competition in Australia.
Phil Martin is now retired as a pipefitter. He and Cindy found they could apply their skills in other ways. They now design and install wood boilers and radiant heat systems. Cindy does the design and Phil typically does the installation. This work has taken them from Colorado to St. Louis.
“I enjoy working and talking with people,” Martin said. “I’m glad when my art gives people pleasure.”
Martin can be reached at 785-844-2180.
Cindy Martin is a woman of diverse talents. We commend Cindy and Phil Martin for making a difference with their varied interests, from painting to Olympic weightlifting and from horses to heating.
And there’s more. Remember their daughter Anna? We’ll learn about her championship-level weightlifting enterprise next week.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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