THE ART OF EDWINA SANDY: A RETROSPECTIVE AT THE ANN NORTON SCULPTURE GARDENS

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA (February 20, 2012) –During the last 30 years Edwina Sandy has created art of international acclaim that includes sculpture, paintings, collage and works on paper. Her work has reached a wide audience far beyond the realm of the private collector and from March 1 through April 1, The Art of Edwina Sandy: A Retrospective will be on display at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach. A member and guest reception with the artist will take place Friday, March 9 from 6-8pm. In addition, Sandys’ book, ART will be available for purchase, which chronicles wonderful photographs of her life that illustrate her famous ancestry. This book is the first and only collection of her visionary and artistic endeavors spanning over four decades.

The New York artist and sometimes Palm Beach resident will grace both the gallery and Gardens with works from the sacred to the secular, addressing politics and society. Tackling big ideas while combining the lighthearted and the profound, Sandy’s works are at once playful and mind provoking. The artist’s clearly recognizable style uses positive and negative images to powerful effect.

Not solely focused on political subjects, but also frequently exploring the relationships between man and woman, major works include her series The States of Woman, and The Marriage Bed, which is in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The exhibit at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens will also include paintings from her series, Women of the Bible, which are being shown for the first time since 1987. Says Sandys, “Some of the best characters in the Bible are women, and I have chosen to portray those with the most graphic stories. When some people ask me if it isn’t a bit lese-majesté to treat this subject in such a light-hearted way, I reply: 'God wouldn’t have given us a sense of humor if he hadn’t wanted us to use it!'”

Early in her career, for the 1979 United Nations’ Year of the Child, Sandy created three monumental sculptures, which are now installed at United Nations centers in New York, Geneva and Vienna. A decade later, she used dismantled sections of the Berlin Wall to create an extraordinary sculpture titled Breakthrough, now permanently sited at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where her grandfather, Winston Churchill gave his historic “Iron Curtain” speech.

From her earliest work of social commentary, which began in London in the 1970’s with lively paintings of the vibrant world she inhabited, Sandy showed her own distinctive style, which readily translated into other materials. Most notable of her bronzes in this exhibit is Christa, a female Christ figure on the cross, created in 1975. After being on display in galleries on both side of the Atlantic, Christa was installed at Easter in 1984 in New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The media coverage created a worldwide furor and she experienced the double-edged sword of public debate, as both praise and outrage flooded in.

Today her works are mainly large-scale metal sculptures, which include her iconic Eve’s Apple, Three Graces, and her Sunflower Woman, commissioned by Henry Buhl for his celebrated Sunflower Collection.

Through her richly varied life experience, Edwina is uniquely situated to create work related to the global issues of our time. A member and guest reception will take place at the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden on Thursday March 8 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. For more information please visit: www.ansg.org or call: 561-832.5328.

The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Inc. is a recognized 501 (c) (3) operating foundation established in 1977 by the prominent sculptor Ann Weaver Norton (1905-1982). The gardens are conveniently located at 253 Barcelona Road, at the corner of Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, FL. The rare palm and sculpture gardens, exhibition galleries and artist studio are currently open Wednesday-Sunday. 11- 4 p.m.

If you would like more information on this topic or to schedule an interview, please call Linda Soper at (561) 835-9057 or email: linda@lindalanemarketing.

Images courtesy of: Edwina Sandy

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