A collaborative two-woman exhibition exploring stillness, nature, and the poetic body
Artists Erica Dornbusch and Sandra Kugenieks invite audiences into Present Bodies, an immersive art experience that blends ornate ceramics, contemporary painting, and poetic vignettes. The exhibition opens Friday 02.13, 5-8p at Sullivan Family Gallery, Bay Village, Ohio, offering visitors a quiet, contemplative journey into the forest and the natural rhythms of light, space, and time.
Present Bodies is a collaboration that transforms the gallery into an ethereal forest-like environment where visitors can slow down, reflect, and engage deeply with each work. Dornbusch’s paintings and prose explore perception and presence, while Kugenieks’ ceramic forms bring the tactile, sculptural dimension of the body into conversation with the natural world.
The artists draw inspiration from forest life, sacred spaces, and the subtle movements of light across surfaces, inviting viewers to witness and inhabit each moment fully. The show emphasizes mindfulness, contemplation, and a quiet dialogue between mediums, evoking a sense of reverence for both art and life.
Visitors can experience the exhibition at their own pace, with several vignettes enhanced by sculptural installations, hangings and prose plaques that encourage reflection and engagement. Opening Night will afford visitors direct insight into the artists' creative process and thematic exploration of the works and environment.
"Present Bodies is an invitation to notice, to inhabit, and to attend fully to the spaces between art and life," says Erica Dornbusch.
"We hope the exhibition encourages visitors to move slowly, breathe deeply, and reconnect with their own presence," adds Sandra Kugenieks.
Present Bodies will be on view in Bay Village Ohio, 02.13 - 03.07.2026 at Sullivan Family Gallery, 28795 Lake Road, Bay Village, Ohio. More information are available at https://presentbodies.dornbusch.ca Follow the artists on Instagram [@handles] for updates and behind-the-scenes insights.
Sandra Kugenieks is a ceramicist whose sculptural forms explore tactility, space, and the human relationship to natural environments. Erica Dornbusch is a painter and writer whose work explores perception, memory, and the quiet rhythms of nature. Both artists have explored and exhibited widely.