Saturday in the Studio – Sandra Bryant
In the Studio with Sandra Bryant
How did you start making art?
I was a CPA for 25 years before making art my full time career. I always loved and created art, but at 18, didn’t have the maturity or confidence to choose it as my career. I work with my husband also creating large public murals, and then we both make our own fine art pieces individually.
The world is such a miraculous place, filled with both natural and person made wonders, and art gives me a chance to explore those things. You really have to look hard at something or someone to use that thing or person as a subject for a piece of art. Even if you are making something more abstract, the relationship between the hues, shapes and lines means something. It’s a way of communicating your feelings about your subject. It’s always interesting to take an art class where everyone is painting the same subject, but what they feel about that subject is based on their individual history, and so, everyone creates a different piece.
My most important tool is my enthusiasm. Also, I paint as well as mosaic, so will often paint first and mosaic after.
The moveable and adjustable tables. If I’m working on something big, I can set up tables in any way that gives me the surface I need, but then take it all down for something smaller. Also, my camera. I work on a flat surface working with all the glass pieces and will sometimes see things from a photo that I don’t see looking from where I work.
The huge mess I make. I end up with a huge pile of glass chips (they start out in big sheets for each shade and I cut out smaller pieces from there, and then smaller pieces and so on…) Also, the grouting.
When the piece is framed. All the adjusting and grout fixing are done, the bandaids have come off my fingers, it’s adhered to the base and finished.
