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For
the last 20 years, Sandy D'Andrade has been a Studio Artist producing a
remarkable line of wearable art, consisting of coordinated knitted separates
-- dresses, jackets, skirts, pants, tunics, pullovers, coats, hats and scarves.
Everything she makes is knitted: using original techniques hand-loomed on
a knitting machine and/or hand knitted the traditional way (on knitting
needles). Her finely crafted pieces can be found in specialty stores and
galleries, at major fine art and craft shows and in museum collections across
the country (including the Hope McCormick Costume Collection of the Chicago
Historical Society). Sandy has developed a large and loyal clientele, from New York to New Zealand. She designs and creates beautiful garments, of the highest quality, to fit real women with real figures! All of her designs are original and each piece is made by hand (none are mass-produced or mass assembled). |
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| Making
each piece, one at a time, allows Sandy the chance to continue to hone her
art daily and allows her the freedom to do individual custom work (custom
sizing, colors and styles) on a regular basis.
Her work is elegant and timeless, artful and carefully considered. As Sandy comments, "If you only saw my work hanging up somewhere, you would not see the whole, because it's functional art that is really designed to be worn on the body. The effects can be subtle. In all of my work, the image has a strong central vertical element that goes up through the biggest part of the body, then travels out to frame the face. So, my clothing not only has movement and flow, but a slimming and framing effect on the wearer." Sandy designs nature motifs (trees, mountains, clouds and waterfalls), flower vase motifs and more abstract geometric stylings. The tree is probably the most recurrent theme in her work. It was present in her earliest explorations of original knitting designs and reappears in newly invented forms and contexts. It symbolizes renewal, re-birth and healing. The tree with bare branches or winter tree may appear dead, but it has full life and creativity within. As it draws energy from the roots, it can blossom forth with new life. Her vase full of flowers is an exploration of the tension between containment/control and wild expressive (blossoming) creativity. Her heron or wading bird represents freedom and independence - the ability of flight inherent within stillness and meditation. All said, these images portray the elements of Sandy D'Andrade's own environment and home, upon which she most frequently chooses to focus. As these visual elements bring beauty and joy to her daily life, she hopes to share that with the wearer.
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