Paper +Leaves XVIII: Strata Collage

Sandy Bleifer received her B.A. in Fine Arts at U.C.L.A. in 1962 and worked as an Artist in Residence, an art teacher, docent and publisher of curriculum materials in the arts. With the support of “Space”, a seminal Los Angeles gallery under the direction of Edward Den Lau, she exhibited and sold her work from the early ‘70s through 1997. The artist's work is in over 200 private and public collections worldwide. Her personal idiom began with silkscreen, collage and an exploration of of paper: a continuing discovery into its complex nature and its ability to serve as a metaphor for the world around us. Early in her career as an exhibiting artist, social and political activism crept into the mix. Soon she began creating art installations that became a focus and galvanizing force for the reconsideration of major historical events: the Holocaust and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the mid-1990s she focused her attention on a pivotal moment in Los Angeles’ contemporary history: the revitalization of downtown LA. Now in recent years, she is further imbuing her art with a pro-active agenda using interactive installations, video and community engagement with threads that can be seen in her prior aesthetic concerns – paper as a metaphor for life, environment and the human condition.