Sandra Olsen-Connelly
Sandra Olson Connelly is a visual artist and writer, originally from Chicago. After earning a degree in English Literature, she spent over a decade traveling the world, doing volunteer work and studying the art of diverse cultures, from Ireland to Indonesia.
“My art is a spiritual practice, opening me to levels of awareness beyond words. Asa writer, I am immersed in language, sometimes caught in its constructs, both internally and on the page. In my visual art I seek to let go, to find the silence. The work grows from this stillpoint, creating a ‘field’ of partially translucent layers.
I begin each piece with an intention and let this guide me as I assemble randomly torn pieces of paper (much of which has been found or recycled), each embedded with its own patterning and textures. I am drawn to paper because of its connection to writing and how, through color and layering, I can extend my expression to the visual. In this transition, I seek a conversation between the figurative and the fixed, a dialogue of dance and landscape.
The stenciled figures illustrate the ‘story’ of the work and are woven together with paint and pastel. At each stage, there is a letting go, moving through doubt and hesitation, to trust the process, even when it takes me to unexpected directions. The results are always surprising.”
