Sandy Coleman is an artist engaged in play as well as in the serious pursuit of using art to connect us all. She believes that art reminds us of our common humanity. Art invites us to tap into our innate creativity, to experience the process of bringing forth what is imagined into reality and to see what is good within ourselves so that we also can see what is good within others. This all, ideally, not only opens us up to hoping for the best for everyone and for the world, but also moves us to act to bring about good. Sandy believes that imagining what you want is the first step toward making it happen. All of this is at the heart of the founding of The Community Circle Project, which she created and launched in 2019.
The circle is a symbol of unity, wholeness, connection and inclusion. The Community Circle Project is an ongoing art collaboration and engagement that employs the symbol and the themes evoked as a creative focal point. Sandy facilitates virtual and in-person workshops in which participants are invited to engage in artmaking as well as meaningful conversation. The goal is for us to see our commonalities, our shared humanity and desire for good in our lives, which, ideally, leads to wishing for good in the lives of others, our communities and the world. Change happens in big and small ways. Each of us can play a role in that, including calling upon the power of creativity for relaxation, reflection and reaching out.
As an artist, Sandy also is driven by an unrelenting curiosity and desire to explore various mark-making materials and concepts revolving around the beauty, power and mystery of women. Her acrylic paintings and mixed-media collage works reflect her fascination with torn paper used as “paint” and connect her to her Alabama roots, where her grandmother’s handmade quilts spoke volumes square-by-square.
Sandy’s creations have been featured on HGTV, in Oprah magazine, and in exhibitions at colleges, museums and galleries in the Boston and Providence area. She is most proud of her contribution to the effort to help the victims of domestic abuse by designing an original ceramic plate every two years to be auctioned off at the REACH for the Stars celebrity fundraising event.
She has created and facilitated collaborative creative sessions with several organizations and nonprofits, and looks forward to growing The Community Circle Project.
She is the director of communications and the magazine editor at Wheaton College (Massachusetts), after spending 20 years as a journalist working for the Orlando Sentinel and the Boston Globe. She has taught art classes at the Attleboro Arts Museum for five years.
Words fill her days, but images fuel her nights.
Follow her on Instagram @sandycreates.
Follow The Community Circle Project on Instagram @communitycircleproject
