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.

Currently in the Chestnut Art Studio are oil and acrylic paintings combining Cyndi's physical environment with her imagined reality.  Daydreams is an evolving playground of imagery that grounds the artist and allows her to fly.

Materiality is always in question as Cyndi explores the potential of materials to become "paint".  Pulling substances such as used coffee grounds from the waste stream and re-appropriating them as drawing mediums is an integral part of the process and content of her ephemeral artwork. While physically short-lived, these drawings hold potency in the memory of the viewer.

In her hands, cast-off objects become the raw material for creating alluring three-dimensional forms. Her show, Conglomerate, a group of sculptures that mimic mineral formations, is made from post-consumer found objects.  A reclaimed hollowed log tediously set with broken blue-glass shards and cut water bottle labels, Azure Dasanite, puts a clever and critical eye on the misuse of water and it's ownership.  Conglomerate has traveled across the US and was featured in the Tellus Science Museum, a Smithsonian Institution-affiliate.

Cyndi’s work includes a mosaic mural inspired by the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read Project. The mural wall, depicting a mockingbird perched atop a tangling vine of bittersweet, guards the exterior patio of the Massanutten Regional Library in Harrisonburg, VA.  

Always exploring the potential of objects to be transformed from undesirable to stunning, Cyndi has created work for and directed a series of Trash Fashion shows, runway fashion extravaganzas of innovative attire created from tossed away materials.  Locations include the Convention Centers in Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburg, PA and Columbus, OH. She features her students and guest artists in these productions.

 Cyndi's best of life list: new ideas, painting, growing food, biking, hiking, water, laughter, and other people's inspiring creative work.  

University Colloquium Presentation, Disintegration, Eastern Mennonite University (Feb. 2012)

Solo and Collaborative Work of Cyndi Gusler, Pen Women of the Valley, Bridgewater, VA (Mar. 2009)

Hybrid, Slide lecture presented in conjunction with artist’s reception and opening of the show Hybrid at Bridgewater College’s Miller Gallery.

Practicing Resurrection with Cast-offs and Left-overs. Mennonite Arts Weekend, Cincinnati, OH (Feb. 2008)

Murals/Commissions:

Nasaruni Values: Exterior Wall of Nasaruni Maasai Girls’ Academy, Narok, Kenya (Spring 2018)

Mockingbird Mosaic Mural on Main Street, Massanutten Regional Library in Harrisonburg, VA. This mural was commissioned by the MRL in coordination with the Big Read Project. The mural was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2007. The mural is a permanent installation and was created with the help of many volunteers.

River of Life Mural: a collaboration with muralist, Dimitri Kadiev. Kadiev is a student of Judy Baca, founder of the L.A. Mural Project, the longest continuous mural in the United States, and SPARC, Social and Public Art Resource: http://sparcinla.org/. Fall 2015.

Solo/ Collaborative Exhibitions:

• Looking for Rocktown: Smith House Gallery, Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA (Sept. 2017)
• ‘Cause This Life is a Crazy Dance: Invitational, Hess Financial Art Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA (Apr. 2017)
• Parings: Collaborative paintings and drawings Ashley Sauder Miller. McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (Oct. 2016)
• Artists’ Residency and Show: Collaborative and solo paintings and collages with Ashley Sauder Miller. Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA (Nov.-Dec. 2016)
• Retrospective: Spitzer Art Center, Harrisonburg, VA (Mar. 2016)

• Picking Up Marks: Collaborative and solo paintings with Katherine Burling and Ashley Sauder Miller. EMU, Harrisonburg, VA (Oct. 2015)

• Untitled (relationship): McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (Feb. 2014)
• The Shop Show. Paintings by Cyndi Gusler. McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (Feb. 2014)
• Haute Trash Runway Show. Producer, Designer and Model, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ (July 2013)

• Disintegrate, Solo Exhibition, Eastern Mennonite University’s Margaret M. Gehman Gallery (Feb. 2012)

• Ephemeral Art, installations for the Wild Goose Festival, NC (June 2012 and 2013)

• Trash Fashion Runway Show. Producer, Designer and Model, Pittsburgh Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA (July 2011)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40oh_qVE2ZU

• Hybrid. Paintings and Drawings by Cyndi and Lily Gusler. The Smith House, Harrisonburg, VA, sponsored by Arts Council of the Valley (May 2010)
  http://valleyarts.org/index.php/site/gallery

• Pirate. Paintings by Cyndi and Lily Gusler. McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (April. 2010)

• Hybrid. Collaborative drawings by Cyndi and Lily Gusler. Harrisonburg League of Therapists, Harrisonburg, VA. Part of their “Creative Families” series (May 2009)

• Hybrid. Collaboration with Lily Gusler. Miller Gallery, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA (Sept.-Oct. 2008)

• Conglomerate. Main Gallery, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA. (July-Aug. 2007)

• Conglomerate. Weinman Mineral Museum/Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum, Cartersville, GA. (Feb-May 2007)

Group Exhibitions:

• 7th Annual VMRC National Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA. (June 2012)

• 6x6x30, Juried Invitational, Spitzer Art Center, Harrisonburg, VA (Mar. 2016)Spring Art Invitational, Sunset Art Studio, Harrisonburg, VA (Mar. 2016)

• Listening, Margaret Gheman Gallery, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA (Mar. 2015)

• Family: Collaborative work with Lily Gusler, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (Apr. 2015)

• The Return: EMU Alumni Show, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA (Oct. 2013)

• 8th Annual VMRC Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA (June 2012)

• Renaming Infinity, Guest artist for Chapter I Creative Installation Series, with Frances Miller, Hartzler Gallery, EMU, Harrisonburg, VA (Spring 2012)

• 10×10×10, Juried Exhibition, Second Street Contemporary Art Gallery, Charlottesville, VA (Oct. 2010)
• Riverviews Juried Art Exhibition. Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA (Nov./Dec. 2010)
• EMU Faculty Art Exhibition. Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA (Oct. 2010)

• EMU Faculty Art Exhibition. Invitational, Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA (Sept. 2010)

• Art for Climate’s Sake. Invitational, Clementine, Harrisonburg, VA (Jan. 2011)

• Annual Art Auction. Invitational, Second Street Gallery. Charlottesville, VA (Mar. 2011).

• 5th Annual VMRC National Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA. Awarded Best in Show (June 2009)

• VMRC Juried Art Exhibition: Juror and Awards Judge for this national show. (Apr. 2019)
• Teacher, Summer Art Institute for Children and Youth, Harrisonburg Public Schools.

• Artist in Residence, Shalom Mennonite Congregation (2008-2018)

• Fine Arts Academy, Advisory Board, Harrisonburg City Schools (2012-2017)

• City Youth Arts Month, Visual Art Awards: #1 Court Square, Larkin Arts, Court Square Theater, and Clementine; Harrisonburg, VA, Judged middle and high school art work (May 2013)

•  6” x 6” Invitational: Larkin Arts, Harrisonburg, VA, Juror and Awards Judge (April 2013)

• Central Shenandoah Arts Annual Members’ Show: Houff Community Center, Bridgewater, VA (May 2012)

• Shenandoah Valley Arts Center Annual Members’ Show: SVAC, Waynesboro, VA (June 2011)

• School of Art and Art History Undergraduate Juried Exhibition: Sawhill Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA (Apr. 2011)

• Director and/or Teacher for Summer Art Institute for Children and Youth, James Madison University School of Art and Art History, Harrisonburg, VA ( 2000-2018)

EMU Sabbatical: Cultivating the Skills for Teaching and Creating Art for Trauma Healing: An apprenticeship and guest teaching with Russian NGO, Maria’s Children: Beslan, Russia; Kerus Global, Johannesburg, South Africa; Music for Life, Kampala, Uganda and Nasaruni Maasai Girls’ Academy, Narok, Kenya (Spring 2018)

Faculty Scholarship/Research Grant: from EMU for $500.00 and six semester hours of teaching release time to develop the proposed body of artwork, The Artists’ Workshop, a Collaborative Painting Practice with Ashley Sauder Miller, and complete an artist’s lecture and gallery show (Fall 2016)

EMU Sabbatical: Ecological Art and Sustainability: Midwest Permaculture Institute, Grass Valley, CA (Fall 2010)

Best in Show,$1000.oo prize, 5th Annual VMRC National Juried Art Exhibition, Park Gables Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA. (June 2009)

$1500.00 Artist Grant, Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA for the Flexible Geography Project, a collaborative project with artists with Greg Stewart and Scott Keen. Flexible Geography includes a mobile, community garden/sculpture in reconfigurable parts; seedbomber attire and accessories, website and interactive blogsite, and educational/outreach activities. (2009)

Faculty Scholarship Grant for …and this is not everything, a digital installation documenting (almost) everything I own. 
Six SH’s of release time and $500.00. Eastern Mennonite University. (2008-2009)

Teaching Certification: NK-8th grade

• McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA; juried member.McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA; juried member.

• Advisory Board, Harrisonburg Fine Arts Academy.

• Christians in the Visual Arts

• Women Environmental Artists Directory (WEAD)

• Greenmuseum.org

• Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA.

Presenter: Workshops and Seminars

• Ephemeral Art as Spiritual Practice, Drawing with Coffee Grounds: Workshop for Staff and Volunteers at Kerus Global Orphan Care Center, Sochenguvey, South Africa (Feb. 2018)

• Master Classes in Watercolor painting:
  - Kerus Global Orphan Care Center, Johannesburg, South Africa (Feb. 2018)

   -Music for Life Schools, Kampala and Entebbe Uganda (Mar. 2018)§ School #1, Beslan, Russia (Apr. 2018)

• The Thing She Rode (illustrations): in collaboration with writer Chad Gusler. Mennonite Writers’ Conference, Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, CA (Feb. 2015)

• Wild Goose Festival, at the intersection of faith, justice and art, Ephemeral drawings created on site for the event in collaboration with Ted Lyddon Hatten, Shakori Hills, NC  (2012) and Hot Springs, NC (2013)
• The Artist as Interventionist, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ (July 2013)

• Disintegration: Colloquium Presentation/Slide Lecture, Eastern Mennonite University’s Mainstage Theater, Harrisonburg, VA (Jan. 2012)

• Art for Social Change: Anabaptist Communicators Conference, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA (Oct. 2011)

Conferences/Workshop Participant:

Capture the Glow: Painting and Yoga Artists retreat, San Pancho, Mexico. (2019)

Painting Workshop with Anton Gericke: Cape Town, South Africa (Feb. 2018)

Stained Glass: Moscow, Russia (2017)

Innovation In Pedagogy Summit: University of Virginia (May 2015)

Painting with Tim Lowly, Professor of Painting at North Park University in Chicago: The Glen Workshop, St. John’s College, Santa Fe, NM (July 2011)

Permaculture Design Certification: Midwest Permaculture Institute, Bill Wilson and Wayne Weiseman, Grass Valley, CA (Nov. 2010)

The Glen Workshop: The Artist and the City. Workshop and seminar with Tim Rollins of K.O.S. (Kids of Survival, NYC). St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico. (July 2008)

Interrupt! Intervene!: Rethinking Art as Social Practice, UCSC, Santa Cruz, CA. May 15-17, 2008. Interruptions fostered exchange between scholars, innovative regional and international artists and curators, through panel presentations, performances and indoor and outdoor exhibitions. There was a Wikipedia dedicated to real-time collaboration and exchange between participants. The conference will generate a publication documenting the scholarly and artistic work emerging from this event.

• Chair, Dept. of Visual and Communication Arts (2003-'13 and 2018-present)
• Dean Search Committee (2018-'19)
• Faculty Senate (2016-'18)
• EMU Faculty Scholarship Committee, Elected Chair (2005-'10) and Elected Member (2012-'15)
• Undergraduate Council (2003-'13 and 2018-'19)
• Senior Class Advisor (2007-2008)
• University Consultant for Student-Teachers, Art Education (2006-present)

EMU Guest lecturer: * Arts and Peacebuilding, CJP graduate course (2010-present) * Passion and Obsession Colloquium (2008, 2009) * First Year Seminar (Fall 2008)

EMU Mentoring and Advising: * Honors Student Mentor (2005-2009) * Advisor, VaCA students (2003-present) and Undeclared students (2007-2008) * New Faculty Mentor (2006-2007)