Sandra Brunvand is a printmaker, multimedia artist, and painter. She is also a cofounder of Saltgrass Printmakers, a nonprofit co-operative printmaking studio in the Sugarhouse district Salt Lake City.

Brunvand earned a BFA in ceramics in 1989, and an MFA in painting and sculpture in 2003 from the University of Utah. From 1989 to 2001 she was an instructor in a local area high school. She is currently an instructor of painting and drawing at the University of Utah.

Brunvand's work has been honored with a one-person show at a local art gallery (2006), as an invited artist at the Utah Arts Festival (2004), and as an artist in the spring salon of Springville Museum of Art (2004). Her collagraph print Reverse Messenger was part of the Utah Art Council's '04 Mixed Media & Works on Paper exhibit. Her print also won the Utah Arts Council Traveling Exhibition award.

Sandy Brunvand is a painter, printmaker, and multi-media artists from Salt Lake City. She teaches art at the University of Utah and is also a co-founder of Saltgrass Printmakers.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My paintings in the last few years are a continuing response to my connection with this place, with these surroundings, and with the fundamental themes of human existence. My primary inspiration is drawn from my daily excursions into the hills around Salt Lake City where the small, fragile plant forms draw my attention more than the grand vistas. This imagery manifests in two different, but connected styles of painting which are focused around a desire to confront the theme of life and death and how this dichotomy can be cast as metamorphoses of states of being. In many ways this is such a fundamental theme of our existence as to be at once too simple and too pervasive to be fully comprehended. As I continue to confront this theme I consider how to create a feeling of connection between these seemingly disparate states. I want somehow to evoke a sense of movement and continuity from this life on earth evolving, or dissolving, into a state of non-being after life is ended. I also want to explore the idea of communication between the two states of life and death. However, it is important to me to keep this theme subtle and non-obvious in my work. In many ways I desire to keep this as a private communication of my own, layered below other more easily decoded communications at the surface of my images.

In one style of painting I use images of small plants, so delicate, and yet so strong in their struggle to survive to represent my themes. The simplicity of the small plants is elevated to the majestic as they become enlarged to become the central focus of my images, yet they retain their simplicity of form. A close inspection of the plant forms reveals that they are mostly dry plants from the fall: dead and yet holding the seeds from which new life will emerge in the spring.

In a second style of paintings I include actual artifacts found on the trails. My fascination with the cast off evidence of man leads to these objects becoming the central icons of this work, and as such they are inserted into niches inset in the panels. Although these found objects are intrusions in the natural landscape, through their interaction with the environment and the action of decay they become interesting forms in their own right. In these paintings I elevate these rusty pieces of debris to a level of gem-like status.

The background on which all these images rest is largely abstract, but also layered with information at many levels. These icons of the trail, both natural and man-made, represent to me the wholeness of our existence, and the nature of our journey through this life.

EDUCATION

• Master of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Painting and Printmaking, December 2003
• Bachelor of Fine Arts, Secondary Ed Teaching Certificate, University of Utah, Ceramics (Minor in English), June 1989

PROFESSIONAL

• Spring 2004-present: Adjunct Faculty, Art Department, University of Utah
• 2003-present: Saltgrass Printmakers, a non-profit cooperative printmaking studio (co-founder, instructor, gallery manager, President of Board of Trustees)
• 1989-2001: Jordan School District, High School Art Instructor

HONORS

• Honorable Mention, 2005, Statewide Annual Exhibition, Bountiful, Utah
• Utah Arts Council Traveling Exhibition Program (TEP) Award
• Mixed Media, 2004
• Painting and Sculpture, 2002
• Watercolor Society Show, 1998
• Rolapp Award, Finalist, University of Utah, 2003
• Graduate Research Fellowship Award, $10,000, 2002-03, University of Utah
• College of Fine Arts Departmental Scholarship, 1988-1989, University of Utah
• Judges Choice Award (first place), Utah Intercollegiate Art Show, 1988
• Merit Award, Utah Intercollegiate Art Show, 1988

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION AND VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

• Southern Graphics Council, member since 2001 (attended 5 national conferences)
• Mid America Print Council, member since 2002 (attended 2 national conferences)
• 2005-2006, Visual Arts Advisory Panel member, Utah Arts Council
• 2005, Juror, Deseret Morning News, Landscape Art Show
• 2002-2005, Intermountain Acoustic Music Association, member, board of trustees
• 2004, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Professional Printmaking Artist demonstration for Art in a Box DVD series
• 2002-present, Wasatch Community Gardens, volunteer and gardener

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• 2006/07: “One Person Show,“ Patrick Moore Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
• 2005: October - “Salt Lake Area Printmakers,“ Group Show, Patrick Moore Gallery
• 2005: June-July - “The Art of the Book,“ Group Show, The Gallery at Library Square
• 2005: May-June - “300 Plates,“ Art Access/VSA arts of Utah, S.L.C., UT
• 2005: February-April - “B.D.A.C. Statewide Competition,“ Bountiful, UT
• 2005: January-April - “Group Show,“ Great Hall, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, extended loan
• 2004-05: December-January - Invitational Show, “White Out,“ One Modern Gallery, Sugarhouse, UT
• 2004-05: “Utah Traveling Exhibition Program, Utah Arts Council,“ Traveled throughout Utah
• 2004: November - Utah Museum of Fine Arts, “Faculty Exhibition,“ University of Utah
• 2004: September-November - One Person Show “Trail in Transition,“ Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
• 2004: August-September - Utah Arts Council, “2004: Mixed Media Works on Paper,“ Kimball Art Center, Park City, Utah

Newspaper Articles

"Art Canvas." The Deseret News, January 16, 2005.

"Art Canvas." The Deseret News, November 7, 2004.

"Art Centers Listing of Exhibition Winners." The Deseret News, February 20, 2005.

"Davis Art Show Features 302 Entries." The Deseret News, February 25, 2005.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, October 24, 2004.

"Printmakers Set First Fund-Raiser." The Deseret News, October 17, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, October 31, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, October 17, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, October 10, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, October 3, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, September 26, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, September 19, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, September 12, 2004.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, July 8, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, July 1, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, June 24, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, June 17, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, June 10, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, June 3, 2001.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, May 27, 2001.

"The Art of Printmaking." The Deseret News, October 17, 2004.

"Utah Artists Invited to Enter '2005 Color of the Land.'" The Deseret News, May 29, 2005.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, November 12, 2004.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 2004.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 29, 2004.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 22, 2004.

"Utah Marquee: Visual Art." The Salt Lake Tribune, October 15, 2004.