Starting Anew with New Optimism: Local Artist’s Exhibit, Seeing God in the Ordinary, is Anything but Ordinary

BY SUZIE WELLS

Local artist, Sandra Ann McDannel, 61, has had quite an artistic life. A child of two public school art teachers, she graduated Cum Laude with an ASS degree in graphic art from Finger Lakes Community College, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors in Fine Art Printmaking from Bu alo State University, and then earned an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Cincinnati.

At one time, Sandra Ann had taken drawing, photography, and sculpture courses at the Memorial Art Gallery, the Visual Studies Workshop, and several independent art studios in the Rochester area. She served as Teaching Assistant at the University of Cincinnati, and taught at RIT and FLCC, winning accolades including a Special Opportunity Grant from the New York State Foundation for the Arts in 1994. Her art has been in 56 separate events, including solo art exhibits, group shows, and juried events within which she won several awards.

When McDannel married around her graduation from Bu alo State University, she started a family, having two sons. She says, “I’m obsessed with beauty, mostly in people, such as portraitures and in our everyday life situations involving family as shown in many pieces shown in this exhibit.” She states, “I’m starting anew with new optimism.”

Grace Episcopal Church in Scottsville currently features seventeen of Sandra’s works in an exhibit titled “Seeing God in the Ordinary,” representing images from Sandra Ann’s past and present, dealing with family and daily activities. Also included in the exhibit is a set of lithographic drawings she did of a particular highway overpass in Cincinnati, where she did her graduate work. Referred to as the Highway to Heaven Series, shown are four images in the series of the same location from di erent vantage points.

Sandra says, “Life is short. If my art is to contribute to society in any fashion, I must stay consistently busy and involved. I love to draw, and I must remember that, as I have on occasion forgotten this truth in the past.”

She feels she gained support back through Reverend Johnnie E. Ross’ kind o er of an exhibit at Grace Episcopal. Sandra says, “ is show has gotten me excited about creating again. I want to thank the whole congregation for their kind support. e exhibit opportunity revitalized my passion for drawing. e support I received from this community has made all the di erence in the world.”

Open for the past couple of weeks, McDannel’s exhibit will be up throughout Lent. e Wednesday of Holy Week, April 5th at 6 pm, Grace Episcopal will host a closing reception to meet the artist and see additional pieces not previously shown in the exhibit. Ross says despite the title of the exhibit, “Sandra’s art is anything but ordinary.”

MARCH 2023

This celebration is a great opportunity to learn more about mother nature.

In ancient times, kingdoms in Babylon, Egypt, and Persia spent a huge amount of their cities’ wealth on constructing elaborate gardens. What’s more, they pioneered the technology of irrigation systems, which became a vital part of modern-day gardening.