Sandra Iafrate
About Sandra Iafrate
Sandra was born in the Niagara Peninsula, Canada, and has lived and trained in Canada, USA and Australia. She is currently an MFA Painting candidate at Savannah College of Art with undergraduate degree in Mass Communications at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, as well completed graduate work in International Journalism at City University London, England. She has worked in publishing, broadcasting and public relations over the years.
Once Sandra left the workforce to raise a family, she began to take formal art classes from award-winning Canadian water colourist Nancy Hughes in Calgary, Alberta. Sandra has also developed her skill through various ateliers and workshops, learning drawing and oil painting with renowned artists; the late Kevin Taylor at Brighton Arts Society in Melbourne, and Juan Martinez at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto.
In 2015, she was selected by Golden Artist Colors Inc. to be a member of their GOLDEN Artist Educator Program and she is now able to teach the complex make-up and use of paints, pigments, mediums and material in a safe studio environment. Sandra had contributed to the art world as a docent for the Art Gallery of Ontario, co-founder of North Toronto Group of Artists, McLean, Virginia Project for the Arts, Art Toronto, and has facilitated many community and school arts projects and festivals. She has also devised a studio-based art curriculum for grades 10, 11 and 12 in compliance with the Ontario Curriculum which was used in a highly kinesthetic learning environment. She contributes annually to Children’s Aid Foundation Canada, Art for Cancer and Kids Help Phone and many other charitable organizations.
Sandra pairs her studio time working as an artist, illustrator and writer, in both Canada and the U.S. She offers a one-week painting holiday in Europe every year. Sandra's original and published works are exhibited and sold internationally.
Sandra Iafrate's current body of work has evolved from representational floral and landscape painting to mixed media collage and multi-media work and writing. She combines time and place with identity using an abundance of elements presented in mixed media collage and painting. Her work is stacked with moments, using found materials carefully selected and imbedded within the composition. Layer upon layer, she creates the subject of her work, while including complements, counterparts and palimpsest that remind us of times past and reveal us through poignant recollection.
Through complex portraiture, landscape and still life, she creates within themes of identity, memory and nostalgia. Most recent work includes food and culture, a topic close to her and a subject that links us to our culture and heritage.
The Dinner Table (Meal Kit Revisited) (detail) Sandra Iafrate 2024.
In recent large-scale portraiture, Sandra uses charcoal, pencil and mixed media elements including found objects, maps, textiles, wood, metal and lace to build an image as a conduit for viewers so they may contemplate the interplay of history, lineage, experiences, and geographical surroundings. Bold brushwork and evocative mark-making are added to bridge the past with contemporary times and the immediacy.
Portrait of Past and Present II
2024, mixed media, 60 x 60 in.
Sandra's continuous practice with classical drawing and painting is also a part of her studio practice, through classical red chalk drawing of portraits and oil painting botanicals.
For more information on the artist and available work please visit contact information here.