International artist to serve residency at CSB and SJU

An international artist who has had her work shown in Sweden, Portugal, Japan and Mexico is the 2019 Sister Dennis Frandrup Artist in Residence at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Lourdes Gonzalez Osnaya arrived Feb. 1 from Mexico City and will be in residence through March 15 at CSB and SJU.

Gonzalez Osnaya will present her work in textile art and introduce the process and work method in her collaborative and individual projects at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12 at the Saint John’s Art Center. Her talk is free and open to the public. She will also visit classes and work with students while in residency.

A fiber artist and designer, Gonzalez Osnaya holds a master’s degree in textiles at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Her previous studies are in design and arts in Mexico, Japan and Spain.

The concepts that Gonzalez Osnaya works with are grounded in how crafts relate to society by being a tool to communicate with others, particularly in a ceremonial context. By diverting our perception of ordinary materials, she looks for a point of convergence between the spiritual and the emotional inside an everyday good by delving into the unique physical qualities and language of a material extracted from unpacking a traditional practice. Her work touches on the transitory nature of the body and matter and the fragility of it.

Gonzalez Osnaya works both independently and in collaboration with master craftsmen in the fields of fibers and textiles through collaborative pieces, a combination between different techniques, disciplines and materials for producing experimental textiles. She has also worked on development projects with groups of artisan women in rural areas and inmates in social rehabilitation centers.

Her work is currently on exhibit at the Uppsala (Sweden) Art Museum and at Odenplan Montern Metro Gallery in Stockholm.

Gonzalez Osnaya will work in an art studio in the Saint John’s Art Center while in residency.

The Sister Dennis Frandrup Artist in Residence is for emerging to mid-career artists who would benefit from a focused period of time to concentrate on work within the context of an educational environment in a rural bucolic setting. In 2018, Ghost of a Dream – a collaborative duo of Adam Eckstrom and Lauren Was – served the residency.

The residency is named for Sister Dennis Frandrup OSB, a professor emerita of art and an artist in residence since 1973 at CSB and SJU. She is a 1965 graduate of CSB, and received a master’s degree from Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan, in 1973.