About Sandy Swirnoff
For Sandy, the pleasure of working with fiber combined with
beadwork is the same: making the concepts in her imagination
come to life. She likes the intimacy of holding the fiber cords
in her hands and shaping them into surprising patterns and designs.
She enjoys the opportunity that each piece presents — how
to get from one place to another in the most attractive and
graceful manner.
"Who
I am is expressed through
my work. It is a combination
of people and my life experiences.
My grandmother gave me an
appreciation for the magic and
mysticism of symbols
and the richness of ornament.
My mother taught me to
"see more deeply" — to be sensitive to
beauty and pattern in color,
texture and design."
Sandy is especially interested in uniting
the antique and the contemporary in her work. As a young
woman, she lived in a Prairie style home that featured the mellow
golds and rich blues of Tiffany glass. Her memory of this experience
was reawakened in 1990 when a truck accidentally crashed into
a window filled with Art Nouveau glass vases and lamp shades
in an antique store in Portland, Oregon. The beautiful glass
was irreparably damaged. Sandy bought many of the fragments,
and has been inspired to create new and contemporary settings
for them. She likes the idea that these glass treasures will
be preserved through her work. One of the pieces she created
is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Art and Design
in New York City.
