About The Artist

Sandra Lee Parsekian, North American artist of Italian Armenian ancestry, born in New Jersey, U.S.A. 1957. I am a studio artist having spent the majority of my hours investigating the two-dimensional surface of the canvas, primarily painting in oils. Having a traditional base in still life, landscape and portraiture, I began taking studio painting at the age of ten. My free time as a child was filled with classes of painting, ceramics, jewelry, clay and watercolors. When it came time to choose my field of study for the University I initially thought of law, as it is in my background. After visiting various Universities I realized, for me, the art department was the most important.

I chose Alfred University as it was both an art school and an academic university. Alfred has a renowned ceramics department and an innovative, challenging and exciting art foundation program. At Alfred I learned a sound philosophy of the process of creativity while learning basic skills. I studied drawing and painting for a number of years with Clara Nelson, a student and follower of Hans Hoffman. Hoffman was an artist 1880-1966 whose ideas described the plasticity of three-dimensionality translated to two-dimensionality; landscapes composed of tension between space, form, color and planes. It re-enforced the essentials of the creative process.

After I graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts I went to a small painting school in the south of France, Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing, Aix en Provence. I studied landscape painting, portraiture and history of art; a very magical year connecting with Cezanné’s Mount St. Victoire, understanding the birth of cubism and painting in the light of the impressionists. I returned back to the states and completed a Master of Art at William Patterson University where I was offered a scholarship and a working grant. From there I was accepted into the “Art in New York” program where a group of selected artists were given a studio in Manhattan for a year, participated in lectures, worked in the studio of a professional artist and learned about the art world first hand. Finishing the year in the city I began to teach some classes at William Patterson University and other educational institutions in New York.

An opportunity came up in 1986 to live and work in Madrid, Spain. I closed my studio in New York and planned a three month exchange. Three months turned into six months. I became immersed in the bullfight and did a series of paintings and drawings on the subject. Twenty years later I am living in Barcelona Spain with my two sons Ned and Jason Martorell. I continue to paint and sculpt and am designing a series of ceramic ware and product design.