Photo Gallery: The Found Art of Negative Space

Cynthia Jensen's art studio at School Street Plaza is filled with sculptures and wall hangings made from found and recycled materials. She combines these things she finds on beaches, in thrift stores, and out among the trees with steel and plastic that incorporates Buddhist principles.

Jensen says that her goal is to create pieces that have been stripped to the bare essentials, making it more fragmented and skeletal. The idea is that what isn't there -- the negative space -- is more important than what is.

After growing up in Minnesota, Jensen studied art at the California College of Arts in Oakland and at College of Marin. She also has a teaching credential and education degree from San Francisco State and Iowa State University.

One of her pieces -- realistic sculptures of rusty cans made from porcelain -- is currently being showed at the in San Rafael.