Secrets have been unearthed about the people who lived thousands of years ago in M.Flandia. In what is being described as a "rare and unprecedented archaeological cache of pottery and sculpture," one chipped piece, resembling clay and in the shape of a dinner plate, depicts a naked man lovingly holding a baby up in the air. Another similarly shaped object portrays a clothed woman in the act of shooting an arrow from a bow.
In fact, there never was a place named M.Flandia. Mary Frances Dondelinger, who is known professionally as MF Dondelinger, is playing with our assumptions about what we think we see in her latest conceptual piece. Comprising around three dozen artworks depicting traces of an ancient, mythical civilization called M.Flandia, the work will debut on Aug. 2 at Coeur d'Alene's Art Spirit Gallery.
"Because this is meant to depict an archaeological find, there are pieces 'found' entirely intact, some pieced back together, some broken, and assorted bits and pieces," Dondelinger says. "The key line is: In this post-truth era comes a discovery so big, so unbelievable, it's got to be true."
The "discovery" is based on Dondelinger's research into actual archaeological finds in California's Santa Rosa Island region, some of which date back 8,000 to 13,000 years. The inspiration for the theme, Dondelinger says, came from a website that was posting disparaging comments about a former U.S. first lady.
"Which first lady is not the point," she stresses. "I don't care which political line you're on; it was disrespectful. It presented information as if it were true, but it was so erroneous. Only years later did the creator say, 'Oh, I was just kidding.' With this exhibit, I'm taking assumptions and turning them on their heads."
That's why the M.Flandia exhibit depicts both men and women in atypical ways. For one thing, there will be fewer men than one would expect to see in a "typical" society.
"That makes it harder to determine what's going on in their lives," Dondelinger notes. "The women, on the other hand, are very active, which is unusual in art. If you pay attention to outdoor sculptures, you might encounter one with three kids — two boys playing a game on the ground, and a little girl watching. In this exhibit, I have a little girl climbing a tree, and the women are hunting and boxing; they're active."
Boxing?
"I have a lot of women in boxing gloves in my work," Dondelinger explains. "I had drawn this woman in my sketch book, and I thought she just wasn't interesting enough. She had on a short, fluffy skirt — kind of like a ballet skirt — and I thought I needed to toughen up the image. Not her, but the image. I thought, 'Let's put her in boxing gloves. Wouldn't that be funny?' It turns out to be pretty interesting because it can relate to so many things that women experience. She represents whatever that woman is struggling with — not necessarily a fight, but a struggle."
Lake Love
It's no coincidence that M.Flandia's artifacts have been "unearthed" from an area that is bounded by an ocean. Water, in general, has become a central theme in much of Dondelinger's work. It stems from a trip early in life to a cabin in Coeur d'Alene that was owned by family members.
"That [cabin] was my introduction to this beautiful body of water that I value so much," Dondelinger says. "I fell in love with the lake. Isn't that what we all do?"
An avid swimmer, Dondelinger says she can't wait to get in the lake and swim when it's warm enough.
"It really calms my body and my mind down," she says. "There's something magical about getting in the water and being submerged by something that's totally natural. You're one with the fish, even though you're not really. It's otherworldly, and I feel more connected to the earth by getting in the water. This is the perfect lake for that."
The Northern California native attended North Idaho College, learned about graphic design and went to work for the Spokesman-Review. She designed ads by day out of the paper's Coeur d'Alene office and worked on her art projects by night. She holds a B.A. from Seattle University, has studied and apprenticed with iconographers in central Idaho and Bologna, Italy, served as the director of the Gallery One Visual Arts Center in Ellensburg for seven years, and received numerous awards for her art.
Much of Dondelinger's work in iconography is included in her 2012 book, Modern Icons (RT Publishing). It focuses on "the sacrifice of endangered species in the American Southwest." Her exhibits have appeared in galleries and museums in the U.S., as well as the Belvedere Palace Museum in Vienna, Austria.
But in her adopted home, she agrees she may be best known for her "Love Letter to Lake Coeur d'Alene" exhibit, which ran for two months last summer at Art Spirit Gallery. It depicted a school of 45 ceramic fish, each representing a year Dondelinger has been connected to the lake.
"My goal was to have the work talk about the importance of a healthy lake, but to do it in a way that's fun and visually interesting, because I'm not good at lecturing," she says. "I like to think of it more as a conversation — where you look at it and ask yourself, 'What's going on here?'"
Each fish in the school has a note inside it from a long-time Coeur d'Alene resident explaining what the lake means to them. But the note can be accessed only by breaking the piece.
"The note is not something you need to find," Dondelinger says. "You just need to know there are well wishes inside the fish."
Dondelinger says that working in three-dimensional art is "out of character" for her since she's spent so much of her career painting. And even though working with clay — which is easier on her physically — requires a different skill set, she says she has taken to it surprisingly quickly.
Regardless of the media, Dondelinger says the motivation for her work remains consistent.
"I'm a conceptual artist," she explains. "I'm motivated by the concept of pieces, so I start with that and then figure out the best material to use for the project."
With the M.Flandia exhibition, Dondelinger says she hopes "it might change the way you look at the world — in a more positive direction."
Meanwhile, it accomplishes something for her as well: "It feeds my compelling drive to create. I can't not do it."
