Sandra Speidel

I combine my figures with abstract elements to suggest thought or emotion, psychology, intention, or history beyond the literal depiction of the figure. The flattening of space, addition of marks and symbols, and omission of other elements are tools of abstraction that I use.

The figure’s gesture is my entry point into interpreting and understanding. I look for the weight and subtle shifts of posture and curve. I break up the figure by making abstract marks with a variety of brushes, knives, scrapers, squeegees, trowels, and other hardware finds. Along the way, I celebrate the surprises, how the marks add to or subtract from the image in both representational and abstract ways. Learning about the figure and revisioning it in these ways helps me tell its story.

All of this produces a painting that reveals a pentimento, or history of the paint and marks, showing how each layer influences the next and builds on the last. It’s important that the final painting has mystery and unanswered questions, distinct and indistinct passages, so that viewers can enter the painting with their own histories and filters and find their own stories.

BA Duke University
MA Ohio University
San Francisco Academy of Art University
San Francisco Art Institute

2018

June
“Spaces Between”
New Figurative Paintings
Desta Gallery, San Anselmo, CA

April
Ninth Invitational Exhibition
Graton Gallery, Graton CA

March
Spring Invitational
Gallery One, Petaluma, CA

2017

December
“Silhouettes”
Slate Gallery, Oakland
Group satellite show
4 of my paintings included

“Art- Light_ Joy”
Spindrift Gallery, Gualala, CA

October
Sonoma County Open Studios

September
“Go Figure”
Spindrift Gallery
Groups show including 9 of may paintings
Juried, “Traveling Man” won First Place

July
O”Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley
Juried by Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray of Seager Gray Gallery

May
“Celebrating Women Painters”
Spindrift Gallery, Gualala, CA
Groups show including 9 of my paintings.


2015
“Collect” Berkeley Art Center juried art auction, September
Sonoma County Open Studios, October
San Francisco Open Studios, October
“Abstractions” Gallery One, August

2014

Invitational #8, Graton Gallery, Graton, CA, January
“I Think Therefore”, solo show at Passaggio Wines, Sonoma, August
“Sonoma Scapes” Gallery One, July
“Recent Work” Epperson Gallery, May
ProArts Open Studios, Oakland, May
Invitational #8, Graton Gallery, Graton, CA, January ...