MONROE — The paintings of Mineral Point artist Sandra Peterson will be on exhibit in Monroe Arts Center’s Wellington and Muranyi Galleries from April 11 through June 7. 

The opening reception for “Why it Matters” is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11 at Monroe Arts Center, 1315 11th St. A brief artist gallery talk begins at 5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Sandra Peterson uses the act of “mark making” to guide her through painterly meditations on the animal kingdom. Within the animal theme, she uses spatial elements and abstraction, directness of mark making, an earth-toned color palette and geometric shapes as structure that can best be presented and realized when viewed as a larger whole or collection. Working with oil on canvas, the view can identify the character of each animal she depicts as it emerges from its own field of gestural abstraction.

Her visual concept explores “mark making” as a language of painting. Painting in its basic form coincidently describes an image and space concurrently and yet remains true to the basic form.

Peterson paints in a loose style, describing an animal in a direct way, while trying to come up with unique results. In her work, “Fox With Cacti,” she uses a blackened face to seemingly have it become part of the landscape. 

Peterson’s awards include the Paulette Chandler Scholarship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant in 2017.

Sandra Peterson’s work is currently represented by Addington Gallery in Chicago, and Wantoot Modern American Art and Craft in Mineral Point.