Sandy Kessler Kaminski

Since moving from Columbus, Ohio, Sandy Kessler Kaminski has enjoyed both working at the community level and creating art for exhibition. Recent shows include the 55th Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX, Portraits at the Children’s Museum, Pittsburgh, and Art of The State held at The State of Pennsylvania Museum, Harrisburg, where she won the Docents Award for her painting Fetching the Canary. Sandy’s most recent public work, Legacy, was created with Rivers of Steel at Carrie Furnace with the Rankin Christian Center. As an Alloy resident artist Sandy was able to tap into the history of Rankin, its people and the former steel mill.

Over the past decades I have used an approach that reclaims materials from previous work and/or industry. I use them for inspiration and/or physically make art with what I find. The resulting work is not overtly “found object art” but a more subtle experience. One that I call “rescued object art”. I feel the resulting artwork is both reflective of the people involved in the initial creation of the reclaimed items while inclusive of the people now living at a particular place. There is a sense of history in recognizing the path that leads to this moment–it ties individuals into a timeline greater than their own. Interspersed has been my interest in portraiture, the individuals who live in this environment and how it influences them. My recent work continues this thread by focusing more on Nature and humankind coexisting with portraiture as a component.

Photo by John Clines