Cyndi Gusler

Cyndi Gusler is an EMU alum and an MFA graduate of James Madison University. Cyndi has a background in painting and drawing and working with mixed-media. Cyndi uses cast off objects as the raw material from which she creates alluring three-dimensional forms. Her work includes paintings on collaged found fabric, and eclectic found object sculpture. Her show, Conglomerate, a group of sculptures that reference raw minerals, is made from post-consumer found objects. Conglomerate has traveled to California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and to several galleries in Virginia.

Recent work includes a mosaic mural wall inspired by the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, commissioned by the Massanutten Regional Library in Harrisonburg, VA. The mural which depicts a mockingbird perched atop a tangling vine of bittersweet, is part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read Project. Additionally, she directed a group of EMU students in the creation of Trash Fashion II, a runway fashion show of innovative attire created entirely from found, cast-off materials. Click here to read more about the show and see photos: http://www.emu.edu/news/index.php/1568

Cyndi enjoys collaborative art-making, hiking, swimming, organic gardening, playing outside with her two children, and attending fine arts performances.

• B.S., Eastern Mennonite College, Summa cum laude, 1993.
  Major: Liberal Arts
  Minor: Art
  Teaching Certification: NK-8th grade
  
• Post-baccalaureate course work in studio art and art history, James Madison University
  
• M.F.A., Painting and Drawing, James Madison University

_The Studio_no.15 June 2001

Lecture with images, _ Practicing Resurrection with Cast-offs and Left-overs_. Mennonite Arts Weekend, Cincinnati, OH (Feb. 2008)

• Conglomerate. Main Gallery, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA. (July-Aug. 2007)
  
• Featured Artist, Wrecked for the Ordinary e-zine.http://www.wreckedfortheordinary.com/category.asp?category=arts (July 2007)
  
• Featured artist, New England Arts Council, web exhibit. http://www.newenglandchristianartscouncil.org (Mar. 2007)
  
• Conglomerate. Weinman Mineral Museum/Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum, Cartersville, GA. (Feb-May 2007)
  
• Artist of the Month, Java Java, Charlottesville, VA. (July – Aug. 2006)
  Group Exhibitions:
• McGuffey Art Center, Members’ Show, Charlottesville, VA. (July 2008)
  *Mennonite Arts Weekend, Cincinnati, OH (Feb. 2008)
  
• Trash Fashion II, EMU. (Dec. 2007)
  
• 4th Annual VMRC Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA. Purchase Award Recipient. (June 2007)
  
• Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) Transforming Spaces Conference, Walk-in Show. Grantham, PA. (June 2007)
  
• His Gifts His Presence, New England Arts Festival. Portland, Maine. (June 2007)
  
• McGuffey Art Center, Members’ Show, Charlottesville, VA. (Dec. 2006)
  
• Nature Working with Artists, Gualala Arts, Art Center for Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, CA. (Sept. 2006)
  
• McGuffey Art Center, Summer Members’ Show, Charlottesville, VA. (July-Aug. 2006)
  *Girls, Girls Girls, Artful Dodger, Harrisonburg, VA. (Nov. 2007)

• MFA Thesis Committee, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA. (Dec. 2006)
  
• Director and/or Teacher for Summer Art Institute for Children and Youth, James Madison University School of Art and Art History, Harrisonburg, VA (summers 2000-2008)
  
• Juror: Student Works, Cleo Driver Miller Art Gallery. Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA.(April 2007)
  
• Juror: Central Shenandoah Arts Annual Members Show. Houff Community Center, Bridgewater, VA. (May 2006)
  
• Juror: The ARC of Harrisonburg Annual Art Show, Harrisonburg, VA. (March 2006)

• Purchase Award. 4th Annual VMRC Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA. (June 2007)
  
• Arts Council of the Valley Individual Artist Grant; Shenandoah Valley, VA. (2006)
  
• Jump-starting Nesting. Eastern Mennonite University Summer Research Grant. $1,500.00 (2006)
  
• The Art of Salvadoran Refugee Children. Lilly Foundation Grant through the EMU Lilly Fund to frame and display a body of drawings by El Salvadoran children expressing their memories of the El Salvadoran civil war. (2005)
  *Faculty Scholarship Grant, 3 SH Release Time and $500.00.
  Eastern Mennonite University. (2004-2005)

Teaching Certification: NK-8th grade

• Christians in the Visual Arts
  *Women Environmental Artists Directory (WEAD)
  
• McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA; juried member.McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA; juried member.
  
• Staunton-Augusta Art Center, Staunton, VA.
  
• Central Shenandoah Arts, Shenandoah Valley, VA.
  
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA.

• The Glen Workshop: Collage and Assemblage with artist Barry Krames (Six days of workshop and lectures). St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Aug. 2006
  *The Glen Workshop: Tile Mosaic with Ginger Geyer (Six days of workshop and lectures). St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Aug. 2007
  
• Christians In the Visual Arts Biennial Conference; Transforming Spaces, Messiah College Grantham, PA. June 2007

• Chair, Dept. of Visual and Communication Arts
  
• EMU Faculty Scholarship Committee, Chair (2005-2008)
  Undergraduate Council (2003-2008)
  *Senior Class Advisor (2007-2008)
  *Committee on Teacher Education (COTE) (2007-2008)
  *Chords of Distinction Selection Committee (2007-2008)
  *Student-teacher Supervisor, Art Education (2006-2008)
  *Guest lecturer:
  
• First Year Seminar (Fall 2008)
  
• Passion and Obsession Colloquium (Fall 2008)
  
• Cities Colloquium (Fall 2008)
  Jean Beaudrillard, The System of Objects, and recent Artwork. Visual Communication Theory (Mar. 2007)
  
• Summer Peace-building Institute, Peace-building and the Arts. (June 2007)
  *Mentoring and Advising:
  Honors Student Mentor (2005-2008)
  Advisor, VaCA students (2003-2008) and Undeclared students (2007-2008)
• New Faculty Mentor (2006-2007)
  Juror:
  Biannual Student Art Shows, Campus Center, EMU (2006-2008)
  Barista, New Menu Item Competition, Common Grounds. (Spring 2008)
  *Expressions, Student Literary and Fine Arts Competition, Common Grounds. (2007)