SANDRA SWILL
Painter, Sculptor
Evolution of the Artist : Sandra Swill
I was born in Brooklyn, New York and studied at Brooklyn College. After my studies, I married and became the mother of three sons. I co-owned a home design business on Long Island and followed that into a career in the corporate world.
As of recent times, I volunteer as a Docent at the Boca Raton Art Museum in Boca Raton, Florida. To qualify as a Docent, one must study the fundamentals of Art, Art History, Art Masters as well as the “isms”and different periods ( i.e. Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism etc.). These studies in turn whet my personal appetite to experiment with painting.
When the Pandemic of 2020 forced me into isolation Art became my salvation.
Painting is one of my hobbies. But not having any social outlet I felt I needed a different medium than painting.
Let me explain…
My path to painting is choosing a palette and almost hypnotically sweep my brush on the canvas and watch colors fall into shapes, lines, and forms. Suddenly and magically my imagination would see a face and before my eyes, a mysterious sad, and tired portrait of some unknown person would fill my canvas. Painting these images made me feel very sad which is why I didn’t want to paint during this time of isolation.
I began noticing e-commerce delivery trucks dropping cartons and then being disposed of. It instigated thoughts about abundance, excess, and our disposable society.
What could I do to help our environment? As an artist how could I repurpose the cardboard into something meaningful instead of adding to our landfill?
I began collecting the discarded cardboard. What emerged from my cutting and pasting were sculptures that surprised me.
Did the images remind me of spiritual sculptures from ancient times that are in my memory bank?