Cynthia Albritton, Known as Cynthia Plaster Caster for Making Casts of Rock Star Penises, Dead at 74

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Cynthia Albritton a.k.a Cynthia Plaster Caster, who was famous for her plaster casts of rock stars's penises and other body parts, has died. She was 74.

The artist and self-proclaimed "recovering groupie" died Thursday in her hometown of Chicago following "a long illness," her rep shared in a statement to Stereogum and other outlets.

Born on May 24, 1947, in Chicago, she got her nickname after she launched her iconic art series in 1968, when she created a cast of the member of Jimi Hendrix, according to Deadline. She soon moved her operation to Los Angeles with some help from Frank Zappa, who patronized her art but didn't model for a cast.

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Albritton later expanded the series to include filmmakers, as well as female artists's breasts. She eventually accumulated a collection of 50 plaster penises from the likes of MC5's Wayne Kramer, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks and Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, in addition to breast casts from Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Sally Timms of The Mekons, Peaches and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, according to Variety.

Although she said she never casted any of the band's members, Kiss frontman Gene Simmons dedicated their 1977 song "Plaster Caster" from their album Love Gun to Albritton. "The plaster's gettin' harder / And my love is perfection / A token of my love / For her collection," the lyrics go.

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Albritton finally had her first exhibition of the casts in New York in 2000. The next year, she was the subject of the documentary Plaster Caster.

She used her art to raise money for fellow struggling musicians and artists through her Cynthia P Caster Foundation. "My plaster casts are my sweet babies, and this is my big baby," she told the Chicago Reader in 2002.

"I'm able to do what I do now because of financiers and I want other people to be able to experience what I'm able to experience, which is being the real me….And besides, what I think this world needs right now is groovy music and art," Cynthia said.

The artist also briefly dabbled in politics, running for mayor of Chicago in 2010, appropriately under the "hard party."

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"I am not a politician," Albritton said in a statement at the time, according to CBS News.

"I am an everyday citizen that is sick and tired of seeing the problems of our city escalate and I believe we ALL need to participate in helping to make our city the best it can be."