Opening Reception: Sandra Shaughnessy & Cindy Fuerstenberg “Ecotone Contours”

The Anderson Center presents Ecotone Contours, a mixed media two-person exhibition of work by Minnesota artists Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy & Cindy Fuerstenberg. Drawing inspiration from the natural world around them, both artists craft texture, color, and form into evocative images and shapes. From the micro to the macro, from the scientific to the ritualistic, Sandra & Cindy create works that speak to the role that plants and landscapes have in creating meaning in our lives and our understandings of the world.

An opening reception will be held Friday, April 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. featuring refreshments and live music by Eric Carranza. Join artists Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy and Cindy Fuerstenberg on Saturday, May 21 from 3 – 5 p.m. for a meet and greet event in the gallery in conjunction with the Anderson Center’s Spring Soiree Art Auction & Croquet Tournament. Both events and the galleries at the Anderson Center are free and open to the public. Ecotone Contours runs through June 11.

Cindy Fuerstenberg‘s fiber and mixed media practice is inspired by the heartbeat of the land and the footprints upon it.  She uses organic processes to alter natural textiles and fibers to achieve subject matter that connects us to the environment and encourages us to examine our relationship with the natural world. Through the textural layers of her work, Cindy brings a fresh freedom from realism. All those bits and pieces, both tangible and experiential, continue to propel her into the welcoming unknown.

Based in Central Minnesota, Cindy grew up in a place where small feet could find dirt paths in the wild green. She was a lone wolf who longed for the arms of Mother Nature. When she found them, she also found solitude. Cindy grew up thriving in nature’s rich tapestry of color and life. Always curious, she needed to know the “why” of how it all works and developed a keen interest in human behavior. Ultimately, she learned that there are sacred stories among the facts, and in those stories, about what people have done, lies hope for the future, if we listen.

Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy creates ceremoniously functional wheel thrown and hand-built pottery. Her claywork evokes feelings of ritual and collaboration, strengthening the relationship between the vessel and how it is used to enhance life. She has spent four decades exploring the many attributes of clay, investigating clay artists, materials, techniques and history. Sandra’s vessels incorporate element of ritual, spanning functional pottery, daily ceremonies and the design elements of artisan clay. Her birchware series draws specific inspiration from the environment of Minnesota’s rural lakes country.

Sandra holds a BFA from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and an MFA from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Her work has been selected for exhibitions throughout the country at venues that have included Skutt Kilns in Portland, OR, Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, and Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. Sandra built the Clayhouse Pottery Studio in Ottertail, Minnesota where she continues her lifelong fascination with clay and atmospheric soda firing methods.

Handicapped accessible and free to the public, the Main Gallery at the Anderson Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This exhibit is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Featured Images: “Endless Prairie Mother’s Loss” by Cindy Fuerstenberg (L) and “White Birch Collection 2” by Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy (R)