OPENING NIGHT I FRIDAY THE 21ST OF OCTOBER I 6PM TILL 9PM
SHOWING DATES I 20TH OF OCTOBER TILL THE 26TH OF OCTOBER
Sandy Lee is a Hunter based painter with deep connections to heritage, country, culture, and spirituality. Although considered an emerging artist Sandy’s paintings have been decades in the making, with their stories and meaning developing long before she put paint to canvas.
Sandy’s Nan a painter and an Indigenous woman with a hidden culture, told Sandy from a young age that ‘she should find the work within’. True to this advice, over time Sandy developed a special painting practice that was entirely self-taught.
Having worked as an energy healer Sandy’s ability to visualize energy and colour is transcendent. Sandy candidly describes the way she can see human auras as colours. All within her mind’s eye she can visualize a sweeping bird’s eye view of her country, and illuminated flickers of light as waves roll in the ocean. The paintings have always been within.
As though Sandy’s paintings are embodied with the same healing energies that flow from her hands during Reiki sessions, viewers frequently report feeling spiritually connected and energized by her work.
ABOUT SPIRALING UP
Moving from using my hands for Reiki healing to using them to distribute paint on a canvas was a natural progression. Using layers and texture I’ve mostly always painted with my hands never knowing what would emerge. Spirals have always featured in my work with a multitude of meanings. My spirals have been referred to as energetic healing portals. As a woman I look reflectively to my female ancestors and see spiral like cycles over the generations. And in challenging emotional times I’ve found myself painting spirals, always beginning in the center and working my way out like I was painting aerial view road maps out of difficult times.
Spiraling Up is particularly significant to me as I finally share the work that has manifested within for so long. For me this exhibition celebrates the moments when my work went from internal visualizations to Earthside paintings. Their emergence, outwards and upwards.