“I could eat, breathe, and sleep art. It is G-d’s greatest gift, and it is everywhere!”
Meet Sandy Lee
Art In Sandy’s Words
South African born artist, Sandy Lee, immigrated to America with her husband, Ezra and four children, Murray, Monise, Greg and Gabby in 1975. Sandy and Ezra were pioneers at the time, as very few South Africans had immigrated to America. Leaving her homeland to navigate this unfamiliar new world with a husband and four children was something that came to be a defining aspect of Sandy’s Life.
They settled in Santa Monica Canyon, California, in a beautiful home at 519 Stassi Lane, essentially the first art gallery to house Sandy’s magical creations. Sandy had always loved art, and did amazingly intricate needlepoint at the time. She was also interested in natural fibers and shells, and did elaborate wall mosaics with these materials. Her central focus in life, however, was to support and raise her children, and run a busy home that housed not only the family, but countless South African immigrants journeying to America during the intense waves of immigration of the mid 1970s.
Sandy was additionally an incredible seamstress making all her own clothes, and an amazing cook. Her cooking was like her art. Abundant flavors, spices, and texture were all combined to create unique to Sandy, always sumptuous, notoriously interesting, soul-filled, nourishing food.
It was only in her late forties that Sandy had any formal training in art, when she joined the Brentwood Art Center. Here she found her true mojo and began a period of intense exploration and production of her assemblage pieces.
A signature of Sandy’s Art is its joyous beuaty. As a body of work, it is a continous affirmation of the intricacies of all the elements that life here on earth has to offer. From nature to architecture, to love, to animals, to tribal connections, to families, to Judaica imagery, to portals and places from far away, to shapes, textures, movement and color, and ultimately to the celebration-worthy universe of which she was deeply a part.
In 2012 Sandy’s husband Ezra had a hemorrhagic stroke, rendering him completely paralyzed on his right side, with movement only in his left arm and hand. Ezra was homebound, and now had a 24-hour caregiver. During this time, Sandy was by his side, sitting with him in his waking hours, with canvas and ink markers in hand, playing with lines and swirls and Zen doodle patterns which resulted in her, “Abstract”series. Sandy’s doodlings, and detailed patterns are seen throughout the body of her work.
Background on Sandy Lee
When I was a little girl, all I ever wanted were crayons and coloring books - mainly drawing books. There was this little toy shop in the village where we lived, and the people who owned it were Mr. and Mrs. Perelli, and they were very, very sweet. I only wanted to go to the store to get the sketch books, and pencils, or wax crayons. I was a good little girl, and they always told my mother as much. Meanwhile, inside I was bursting, just wanting to shut the world out, get my colors, and go draw.
As a child, I didn’t have the guts to try drawing on my own, so I would just sit and copy pictures and do my books. By books I mean science books. I'd draw with as much detail as I could, all the illustrations that accompanied the terms we were learning in biology.
Later in life, I started art lessons at the Brentwood Art Center. It was heaven on earth to actually learn to do art. The first teacher I had in the early years tried to teach us to be very tidy and to do art in an organized way. I was nervous about this because I had great trouble even attempting to keep the table on which I worked clean. Anyhow, he left and then another teacher came – David – and he said, “Just go for it!” And he gave me the courage to go for it, be myself on the canvas, and let my passion show, without curtailing myself, or having to follow rules that I wasn't so good with. I don't really like following instructions, it's not me. I’m so grateful to David for giving me this kind of wonderful permission.
I could eat, breathe, and sleep art. It is everywhere! In the trees limbs that bend in mysterious ways, in beautiful buildings, in patterns, shapes, colors, and the movement that you feel when looking at any kind of image. I am so gratful to G-d that the details of everything are so abundantly clear to me, and I have the chance to express it all on canvas.
