Sculptor Cyndie Rauls is VIVA’s Guest Artists for April!

Artist Statement

In the wooded topography of the Driftless, I look for the voids left in the wake of the emerald ash borer.  I collect etched and lifeless pieces of ash trees; remnants that are as visually striking as their devastation is emotionally resonant. Once gathered, I reconstruct the spirit of the ash tree by integrating sister woods of mahogany, walnut, cherry, oak and hickory.  My process is intuitive, allowing the wood to guide me in physically documenting the tree’s story.  What materializes is an abstract meditation on the beauty and power of wood. My intent is to document the tree’s journey in an attempt to preserve a fragment of its existence before it is lost forever.

Usually sculpting on a large scale, the smaller pieces I've selected for Viva Gallery are meant to encourage a more intimate conversation between the art and viewer.  In a few pieces I’ve incorporated glass lenses to draw the viewer in, to shift their perspective, and to study the story in detail.  These sculptures are expressions of joy and were created as playful extensions of the bigger story, ascribing personality in an anthropomorphic celebration of the tree.

Artist Biography

Cyndie Rauls' artistic journey began under the expansive canvas of rural southeast Wisconsin.  Throughout childhood, she sought to create within an environment where her parents weren’t always able to make ends meet.  With limited resources, Cyndie approached creativity through a lens of ingenuity.  This has become the foundation of her artistic practice today.  Instead of viewing ‘lack’ as a limitation, she sees it as a catalyst for engaging with her world unconventionally.  What she and her siblings did have, in abundance, was access to nature and the freedom to explore as semi-feral earth children.  This freedom fostered a deep curiosity for, and understanding of, the natural world.  

The first in her family to go to college, Cyndie graduated with a degree in psychology and subsequently sought jobs that orbited the art field.  She became an Art in Education Coordinator for the Syracuse, New York, branch of the Lincoln Center Institute.  She took a graphic design position for a realty management company in Boston, Massachusetts.  Upon moving back to Wisconsin, Cyndie became the Early Childhood Education Coordinator for Arts For All Wisconsin. It wasn’t until she left the workforce to become a full-time mom that she saw these positions as surrogates to her own artistic calling.  

With her children grown, she returned to the art world as a sculptor in 2020.  Her “Found and Lost” series was born at the intersection of gifted fine wood scraps and the remnants of devastated ash trees from her parents' tree farm.  She joined Wisconsin Visual Artists in late 2021 and began entering regional calls for art.  In 2022 she had 10 different pieces chosen for 9 juried shows, earning honorable mention in CVA Wausau’s “Pulp: Wood, Paper, Print” exhibit, as well as Cedarburg Art Museum’s “Objects of Desire.”  In 2023 she was granted Professional Status by Wisconsin Visual Artists and was invited to be a part of the 5 person show, “Kindred Spirits: Art from the Driftless” at Rountree Gallery in Platteville, Wisconsin.  January 2024 welcomed her first solo show, “Found and Lost: a Story of Functional Extinction” at the Center for Visual Art in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Cyndie’s Studio

Cyndie answers some fun questions!

1. Why did you decide to work in your chosen medium?
For me, sculpture is a more complete physical interpretation of emotion. It is an encompassing way of communicating ideas that are complicated, by providing three dimensions in order to simultaneously offer multiple perspectives.  A shift in stance provides an alternative view and possibly a new interpretation of what I’m trying to communicate. If I could completely immerse myself in art… this is the closest I can come to doing so.

2. How do you see your art evolving?
Working with the materials I have available dictates the direction in which my work will go. I find these shifts really exciting. Currently I have a dwindling supply of fine wood scraps as my benefactor moved to Portland, Oregon. I’ve been wanting to tell my story of growing up in the 70’s so I see this as an opportunity to sculpt using memorabilia from my childhood. Through the inherent narratives embedded within vintage objects, and by employing repetition of these objects, the work becomes textural, almost overwhelming, to draw the viewer into the rawness of emotion and intricacies of childhood.

3. If you could have one work of art in your home from another artist, what would it be?
I have been so moved by the work of vanessa german… a Pittsburgh artist who was born in Milwaukee. The Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa has some of her work in their permanent collection so I plan to visit there soon. german incorporates found objects into her art creating three-dimensional collages that symbolize the oppression of African Americans for generations.  I am drawn to her deep sensitivity and ability to so beautifully translate heavily layered narratives.
* vanessa doesn’t capitalize her name

Artist Cyndie Raul