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A Bit About Me
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It was an elementary school teacher who first called Sandra “an artist” and inspired her to reframe how she saw herself.
Sandra was born in Italy and always wondered what her life would have been like if her family had not emigrated to Canada when she was young. That yearning inspired her to study art in Florence Italy during her last year of high school. There, she saw masterpieces at galleries and museums and learned about figurative drawing, sculpture, fresco and mosaic techniques. She continued her studies in art and received an Honours Degree in Art and Art History from McMaster University, as well as a Bachelor of Education Degree in Art and Drama from the University of Western.
She thrived as a part of the vibrant arts community and rented two art studios: one on King William St. as a university student, and later, one across from Gore Park. Sandra was active in the art scene with the Hamilton Artists Inc. and exhibited in the Hamilton and Toronto area as well as in Italy.
Sandra taught Art and Drama in a private school, Canadian College Italy, taught Art in Burlington, Milton and Hamilton and was the Head of the Arts Department at both Glendale Secondary and Westdale Secondary Schools where she retired after a rewarding 33 year career.
Travelling extensively has always been important to Sandra and in 2019, she was selected as an Artist in Residence in a small southern town in Italy where she explored Napoli and the Amalfi coast. The rich environment soon became her muse and inspired her sculptural body of work.
A Bit About My Work
Mysterious cast shadows, figures juggling, climbing, spinning—some winged for flight or escape—come to life in my drawings, paintings, photographs and mixed media sculpture.
I reflect on a sense of home/place, memory/longing, self/relationships and natural/ constructed environments in my body of work.
My sculptures incorporate found objects, both natural and mechanical—lovingly collected treasures—as well as papier mâché elements. Reliquaries, wings, roots, industrial towers and ladders are subjectively juxtaposed in my search for truth and understanding. The sometimes whimsical approach gives a nod to the figurative and organic forms and nostalgic carnival-like themes. Flight and soaring is key in the bird-like winged figures, as is the feeling of being rooted and connected to place, real and imagined.
Large pastel and charcoal drawings, oil and acrylic paintings, welded metal suspended sculpture, whirligigs, masks and art in boxes have found a life in my studio.
My creative process involves sketching, writing, reflecting and editing my ideas to enhance the images and the stories that they tell. Text, textures, layers, patterns, colours and found mechanical and organic materials, papier mâché and a limited palette are all key to my artistic practice. I often move from one piece to another, in varying degrees of completion, like a dance. It is not uncommon for me to construct, deconstruct and remake a piece many times…in order to give it the time and space to evolve and to come to life.