Sandra is a self-taught artist living in Albuquerque, NM since 2019. Sandra has exhibited and taught art in her previous homes in Kansas, Texas, and North Carolina. One of her final contributions before moving to New Mexico was to design and complete a mural/mosaic installation at Laurel Hills Park in Raleigh, NC as recipient of a local art grant.
Her teaching practice is built on the belief that everyone can learn and find pleasure in expressing themselves creatively through art. We might not all become masters, but we can enjoy ourselves. Learning the basics, then having freedom for self-expression and exploration was the model I thrived under, so it is the one I use when I teach.
Artist Statement
My art is informed from my childhood in rural Kansas, as well as my many travels around the world—living and working in unique and exotic locations. Through all of these, I have learned to celebrate the beauty of people, cultures, and scenery I encounter.
I embrace and intermix a variety of mediums including acrylics, colored pencil, ink, and graphite. My greatest goal is to entice the viewer to enter and enjoy a world they might not have explored—whether because it is a location they’ve never been, or because they are seeing something familiar from a different vantage point or unique perspective and expression. My current work focuses on my American Wildlife series, which includes both ink and graphite works. I also continues to explore unique combinations and increasing fluidity with my floral themed canvases, often combining acrylics with colored pencil.
My Two Color and Sepia Tones series are examples of presenting the common from a unique angle. Multiple layers go into my highly detailed ink drawings, featuring ink and ink wash, stippling, and cross hatching. Old Soul—which took approximately 120 hours of inking, Bengal in Bamboo, Owl Tree, and Original Man exemplify my ink technique and expression, including a bit of whimsy.
My love for culture—derived in part from my linguistics field work—shines through in drawings and paintings that celebrate diversity and beauty of people and places around the world. Traditional costumes and rituals feature prominently in mixed media pieces such as Beauty in Beads and Color and Ethiopian Coffee
Ceremony.
