Back to Sandra SanTara
Sandra SanTara has been creating art for well over a life time.
Born October 22, 1962 late night, in a car on a quiet country road in Northern Illinois. " My Mom loves to tell this one!" She's got her first creation at 18 months, thanks to her Mom holding onto everything she drew. Been creating professionally, for about 12 years. Her specialty is New Age Visionary, Tribal, and Wildlife art work. Anything symbolic and with deep spiritual meaning is of great interest to her. She feels its important to keep a healthy, open minded spiritual outlook on life. Her pursuit in school was Zoology and Art combined with a love of the natural world has been a happy marriage in her art career
" I wanted to be like Jane Goodall and be in the bush studying animals but soon realized that my calling is art. I can do more with that kind of expression then being a Zoologist, though I still fantasize about it. I have a talent for rehabilitating wild animals and plan to get back into it when I am more settled. "
Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions is where she first displayed her art work. That being the World con in Denver, CO in 1981. Previously, she had been peddling felt sculpture dragons at the local cons and selling other sculptures while in High School in Littleton, CO. Having been in Fandom for over 25 years and during that span has won countless awards in the Science Fiction and Fantasy convention art shows. Her work can also be found in other markets including the Renaissance Festival circuit, Pagan and Earth related Gatherings, New Age Expos and Festivals, Tattoo Conventions, Art Galleries, and Wildlife Art Shows.
SanTara's creative style is expressed through a variety medium including acrylic and airbrush painting, pencils and colored pencils, pen and ink, and scratch board. Besides the traditional flat surfaces, she enjoys creating on untraditional surfaces from the natural world. These include leather stretched medicine shields and drum heads, however the currently very popular, paintings on feathers have taken particular notoriety. Not only in the show circuit, but with a number of Art Galleries carrying them as well.
Being a self- taught and self published artist has been particularly rewarding. SanTara's body of work includes:
*Over 90 Limited Edition Print runs, a number of are sold out now
*36 T-shirt designs that some have been carried by Northern Sun Merchandise, Pyramid Books Catalogue, and other independent distributors.
*Josten Sportswear contracted 6 wildlife designs for the WorldWildlife Fund series.
*Art work for the Fantasy Gaming industry including the Talislanta Series by Bard Games and a Fantasy Card Game.
*Cover work for Wendy and Richard Pini's Elfquest comic book.
*Circle Network News.
*Interiors for Green Egg Magazine.
*Cover art for Ard Magister by Laura Underwood from Yard Dog Press.
Countless commissioned and original pieces sold nationwide.
SanTara resides in a lovely wooded home in Minnetonka, MN with her kids, ' Lynx', a long-haired black lounge lizard cat and 'Heyoka', the fang kitty, vampire cat, munchie cat, puma kitty, among his many nick names, a very large Seal point Siamese. They enjoy the entertainment of big window( 4 patio doors! ) cat T.V. and 'mousies' Heyoka is a very good mouser, I may add!
All images are copyrighted and digitally copyrighted for the web. Please contact read the Copyright information or contact the artist directly to ask about using her work.