Artist Sandy Tuzinksi first began contributing to Art 4 Shelter in 2015. She heard about the event from co-founder Megan Rye during a Minnesota Watercolor Society meeting. After learning how donating artwork would help benefit Simpson Housing Services, Sandy and her sister, Pat Swanson, quickly felt invested in the cause and were excited to contribute.
Sandy has always been connected to art. “Our grandparents and aunts were artists and encouraged us to find ways to be creative in life.” One aunt would send sketch books, pastels, watercolors, and how-to art books for Christmas. Sandy later studied art and graphic design at community college, which launched a career in giftware design.
Sandy enjoys working with a variety of media, including pen and ink drawing and sumi-e painting. She’s ventured into fiber arts too. “Quilting and working with textiles has also been a joy for me to work in for the past few years. There are fabric paints that I use to paint my designs onto cotton permanently and sew them into fiber art.” She is interested in photography as well and often paints from photos taken while working in her wildflower garden.
However, her favorite medium is watercolor. It’s quite versatile, she says: “I can paint very abstractly or even use the paints for achieving fine botanical art renditions.” Sandy has donated many 5” x 7” watercolor paintings to Art 4 Shelter over the past six years.
Sandy deeply values being part of Art 4 Shelter because she can use her creativity to help others in need. She and her sister encourage other artists to get involved with Simpson Housing Services’ mission of providing shelter.
“Art 4 Shelter gives artists an opportunity to learn how to help others in a very unique way. We are not an island and need one another. We learn from others and their life experiences, and so we grow in unexpected ways. Life is unpredictable and can change in an instant for any one of us. Keeping compassion, grace, and mercy in our hearts will allow us to help others, even those we have never met before. That is how Art 4 Shelter has touched my life.”
