Featured Artist Sandra Davis

Enjoy the portfolio of Maryland artist Sandra Davis, who shares a selection of her joyful work.

 

 

Daughter of Joseph and Virginia Cooper, Sandra Davis comes from a big family that consists of three brothers and four sisters. All live in Maryland. She is a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where she received an Associates Degree in Commercial Art. Sandra met her husband of 27 years while attending school. She has two sons, Joseph and Alex. Joseph, her oldest, has a degree in Accounting.

Sandra currently sits on the board of Soul in Motion Players, Inc. as secretary and is a former member of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County – Grants Committee.

 

 

She started working with paper in 1996, creating images of clowns as a gift for her mother. Then she started to experiment with hair texture, quilt patterns and fabric movement. Each piece developed into more intricate portraits of Afro-American women and Afrocentric themes.

Sandra states, “My early creations were images of clowns that I made for my mother, Virginia.  Using different materials and fabrics, the pieces began to grow into individual characters, each with its own unique texture and story.

 

 

Using many different genres of magazines, from Elle to Oprah, I search out a wide variety of colors and papers, incorporating each with fabrics and other materials.  By using everything from wrapping paper to shopping bags, and everything in between, each of my creations is truly one of a kind.

Inspiration for my work comes from my family, and the amazing women around me.  I have been told that the energy and emotion that comes through in these images is almost tangible, and gives life to the universal bond that we as African American women share.  I have recently begun experimenting with assemblages that are dance and music related, adding another component of joy.”

 

 

Sandra’s website shows a unique style of art that blends small scraps of paper, largely from magazines, to create images combining collage and decoupage techniques. The image is comprised of individual pages filled with models in floral, plaids and stripes with combinations of colors and textures which are key to each piece and makes each one unique.

 

 

She gets her inspiration from the artists Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden.

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