Sandra Sugimoto Grosch

Sandra Sugimoto was born and raised in Vancouver. She is a mixed media artist and a graduate of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and Japan. She has lived and worked abroad in France and Japan where she studied Japanese ink painting. Much of her work is influenced by her Japanese Canadian background. She often uses text and combines elements from history, memory and nature.

"Where one story ends, another begins. The starting point for my works begins with something found - a line from a book, a flea market treasure, a seedpod, a memory, etc. With these materials at hand, I begin the process of recombining through stitching, painting, collaging, and drawing. Elements from nature are a recurring motif. It is the cycles of life/growth/death which one witnesses in a garden/life that I make reference to. These works all contain traces of others' lives, anonymous lives that have somehow made their way into mine. Many of the materials were castoffs, objects that had lost their original use value. I think of that connection, that linkage to others and how influence/inspiration can take any form - how chance encounters can often be transformative."