Artist Bio
Sandra Ahten was born in 1961 in Effingham County in central Illinois. She moved to Champaign County and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1998. Sandra has exhibited her paintings and sculptures in solo and two person shows in various Illinois venues. She has been included in juried group shows in New York, Nebraska, Missouri, and Vermont. She is a full time artist.
Although she is engaged in exploring the larger art scenes in Chicago and New York, she is happily settled in Urbana for the time being. Sandra finds that the cultural access gained by being near the University, together with the ease of small-town central Illinois life, allows her a near perfect combination of access to cultural stimulation and time to connect with her own art, a combination she worries may be jeopardized by a move to a larger city. In the same vein, she has opted not to pursue an MFA so that she can have time to explore her own voice, uninfluenced by the constant demand of explanation during the making process.
Sandra's business, Sandra Ahten Art, includes a studio where adults can take classes or share a collective studio environment that allows emerging artists a space to call their own. In addition, Sandra paints portraits and commissions. She is an award winning portrait artist who strategically prices her commissioned work in a range that makes them affordable to those of average income.
Artist Statement
With each approach to the canvas, I submit to painting what currently feels gripping to me, whether or not I understand my motives and reasons. I may be compelled by color, a texture, a pattern, an object or a figure.This sometimes means completely covering a painting that is already loaded with images, with a new layer of paint. Occasionally this means fully rendering a figure or an object, all the while knowing that it may be completely buried during a later session.
I apply paint to the canvas by various methods, including rolling with a brayer and "carving out" an image by using cotton swabs and sponges in a reductive technique. This technique can resembles a printmaking process as I build a stark image on a complex surface. I also make stamps and stencils and use these tools to paint repeated words and images. There are often layers of my paintings that are totally obscured by the time the painting is complete.
Thematically these works address the search for self and the definition of being a woman in a particular time and place. The painting methods I use are conducive to the processes of searching through memory, resurrecting history and exploring beliefs.
