"I'm interested in places we are drawn to in our lives and stories that belong to these places."
American artist, Donna Bruni, uses broad, richly layered planes of color to evoke a sense of place within the canvas surface. Her compositions are based on constant flux of our shared environments — changing seasons, air, water, sky, clouds, land, light patterns, life cycles. Conceptually, the canvases focus on perception of time and space throughout the painting process.
Travel to many regions of Italy, Spain, Central America and the United States provide geographic references, visual notes, cultural histories and layered memories that give context to her intuitive, responsive pieces.
Donna studied art and graphic design at Endicott College in Beverly, MA and the School of Visual Arts in New York with Milton Glaser. She worked as a freelance graphic artist in New York and was co-founder and Art Director of Response Communications Group, Red Bank, New Jersey. She received her BA from the University of Minnesota in Visual Art and Complementary Healing Practices. Her studio practice encompasses teaching and curatorial projects. As art curator at M Health Mill City Clinic in Minneapolis, she collaborates with medical and artist communities to engage imagination, meaning, creativity and wonder in the healing environment through the Art Stat Exhibition Program. She has served as a board member for Inspire Arts at Hennepin Medical Center and a tour guide at Weisman Art Museum on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. Paintings by Donna Bruni are held in public and private collections throughout the United States and Italy. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and maintains a studio in the Northeast Arts District.
Venice Waterways, oil on custom built canvas, 72"H x 96"W x 2"D, Available at Douglas Flanders & Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN USA
Notable Exhibitions:
Art in Embassies Exhibition, Ambassador's Residence, Curator, Imtiaz Hafiz, US State Department, Geneva, Switzerland, 2023
Celebrating 50 Years, Douglas Flanders & Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2022
The Warehouse Show: Part 2, Paintings +, Douglas Flanders & Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2022
Donna Bruni, Recent Paintings, Summer Solstice, Solo Exhibition, Douglas Flanders & Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Ensemble: Together Again, The Painting Center, New York, New York, 2020
Visual Poetry, Donna Bruni, Juan Carlos Collada, Gardner Colby Gallery, Naples, Florida, 2020
Art in Embassies Exhibition, Ambassador's Residence, Curator, Victoria See, US State Department, San Salvador, El Salvador, 2020
Art in Embassies Exhibition, U.S. State Department, Ambassador's Exhibition, Curator Braden Malnic, US State Department, Riga, Latvia, 2020
Abstraction in Minneapolis, Douglas Flanders & Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2015
Beyond Water and Sky, Solo Exhibition, M Health, Mill City Clinic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2019
Mentors & Proteges, Two Artists, Watkins Gallery, Winona State University, Minnesota, 2015
Figuratively Speaking, Solo Exhibition, Tractorworks Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2014
Floating to the Surface, Solo Exhibition, BMW Gallery One, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2014
Art on the Plains Biennial IX, Plains Art Museum, Curator, Hesse McGraw, Fargo, North Dakota, 2012
Foot in the Door, Minneapolis Institute of Art, MIA, 2000, 2010, 2020