pstairs in a beautiful house in the Avenues is Sandy Brunvand’s “bird’s nest” studio, where bowls of rust cohabitate with huge canvases just small enough to fit up the staircase.

Brunvand exemplifies what it takes to be a good artist. Sam Wilson, University of Utah professor of art, said a person has to be sensitive to the materials, intelligent and hard-working.

Brunvand was always connected to the creative process. She first graduated from the U in ceramics and then went on to teach high school. She did not begin her master’s work at the U in order to teach at an institute of higher education, like many MFA students hope to do. “I wanted to understand why I was painting,” Brunvand said.

After catalyst changes in her life, she painted all of her canvases flat-black and went into a long period of mourning. When she started painting again, she was compelled to keep going.

“Do you want me to show you my two favorite tools?” she asked, easily making her way in and out of easels. She held up a drywall-patching tool and a squeegee. The content of her layered symbols matches the process she uses to create the art.

Her master’s program is in printmaking and painting. She was hoping to take a painting class before grad school, but the first class she could get into was a printmaking class. “I fell in love with it,” she said.

Her printmaking feeds her painting and vice versa—especially when it comes to her layering techniques. When printmaking, she uses viscosity technique, a process of building up oils so that some colors slide off others. “It’s nice not to have the whole image under my control,” she said.

Brain Snapp, U assistant professor of art, told her it was similar to her roots in ceramics, commenting on how the paint used acts like the glaze used for a pot.

Brunvand’s masters show “Iconography of a Trail” was up in the Gittins Gallery with a great turnout. The show was professionally hung and beautifully catered.

Every day, Brunvand walks in the foothills. She used to spend a lot of time with her late dog Zobel, even when Zobel was undergoing chemotherapy treatments. This is where Brunvand finds her symbolic shapes in plants and pieces of forgotten rust. Her personal feelings come out in her work, but they are codified beyond usual visual language. She does not want to wear some of her distinctive memories on her sleeve.

“I wanted to imply I was sending a message,” she said.

Her husband Eric Brunvand, a computer science professor at the U, translated the lyrics of “I’ll Fly Away” into binary code. The song is a meaningful spiritual about releasing from life. Her favorite letter from the binary code is F, represented with palindromic 01100110. She uses this letter in many of her artworks.

Brunvand is fascinated by the code dissected by its artistic form and ability. The zeroes are also circles and openings and the ones are the premise or beginning of art representing a single line and the individual characteristic of the artist’s stroke.

Although she is done with her education, she has many more projects that keep her busy. She and fellow printer, partner and friend, Stefanie Dykes, are working on opening Saltgrass, a co-op printing press for printers without a studio. They hope to be open as soon as January.

“We’re paying rent,” Dykes said with a refreshing, excited glee unlike most who pay rent. The studio is located at 2126 S. 1000 East.

Brunvand misses being at school now that her master’s program is nearly completed. She only has to finalize her thesis. “I miss the stimulation of intelligent people,” she said with a stout perseverance.

“All of the motivation has to come from yourself. It’s a different sense of empowerment,” she said. “Especially the understanding critiques from Lisa Hubbert [fellow master’s student]. Lisa knows me and knows what I am trying to do.”

Now that her master’s is nearly done, she will start teaching drawing for non-majors at the U. “I love that little light that goes on when a person realizes they can draw and never thought they could,” she said.

Both Brunvands have a love for music and are a part of the Intermountain Music Association, which brings amazing musicians to Utah. Sandy plays mandolin and guitar. “I had to put everything down to paint,” she said. She is excited to be able to play with other musicians again.

“You have to do what is important to you,” she said. She plans to paint at least 15 to 20 hours a week and play with her black lab, Scruggs, who is still mighty rambunctious at 2 years old. Brunvand is the best kind of artist. She genuinely lives art and celebrates the truth and beauty in everything.
stephanie@red-mag.com