Sandra Anne Kessler was born in Taber, Alberta. She has worked in various mediums throughout her career and is currently using a form of “Tachisme” — an art form popular in France in the 1940s and 50s. It is often considered to be the European response and equivalent to abstract expressionism, although stylistically different.
Sandra has many themes and watercolour is her first love. She said about her work:
‘I always go back to watercolour when I am stuck or when I want a quick study of a scene or an idea.’
Her art has been bought internationally and is in private and public collections. During the last 10 years, she has been doing theological pieces. Her church has an ongoing selection of her work, and she is a member of five public galleries in the Okanagan Valley and has had exhibitions at the French Cultural Centre in Kelowna. Some of her Christian-inspired pieces include: “Techno Christ” (24” x 36”) canvas and mixed media; “The Old Cathedral Wall” (16” x 20”) acrylic and modelling paste) inspired by a poem by Charles Fox.
The front cover of The HighWay this month has another painting by Sandra, “Israel,” and the feature image of this article is called “Spirit.”
The Old Cathedral Wall (by Charles Fox)
The glass lay in the street in tiny shards of yellow, green, indigo and blue
Staining red and violet and clear glass too
While the moon swam dimly through the blackout night
In a ghostly silence and a foggy hue, sometimes just out of sight.
The Cathedral held itself erect and proud
As it had done for a thousand years and more
While pilgrims and saints singing softly stood
Waiting at the old cathedral door.
The bombs had smashed the station across the street,
Its twisted wreckage a mute message of hate and fear
Where travellers had gathered peacefully for generations
Now with anxious whispers and shuffling feet simply standing here.
The sexton kneeled and gathered the first handful of broken glass
With a determination that drew others not to let the moment pass…
