We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sandrine Colson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sandrine below.

Sandrine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

For me, everything has a story, every person has a story. When I create an art piece, I am imagining a story where that piece of art would fit. I am a versatile artist working in acrylic and mixed media compositions. My compositions are abstract, referencing natural forms and movement, filled with bright paint swirls, playful paper cut-outs, and three-dimensional objects, resulting in richly textured abstract canvases with intricate layering. My work is a continuing experimentation with form, color, and medium. It is a snap-shot representation of stories that unveil under my brush, or through various mixed-media, letting innovation and creativity materialize on the canvas, leaving the viewer to his or her imagination to finish the story I started, making imagination, visible. My inspiration comes deep within the human soul, nature, master artists, and the world around us.
My love for art started as a child. I am born in France, in Provence. I have always liked art since I was a child. I have always loved looking around me and observe the world in many ways. I learned some drawing and artistic skills through my grandmother. I used to do wood burning using my drawings to give them more texture and depth as well. As I grew to my teen and then college years, I always enjoyed learning about art and art processes. My cousin was always called the artist in our family, and I was called the scientist so that’s where I focus my career for a while. I do love math and science, all types of sciences, but especially environmental science and materials science. I obtained a Ph.D. in Science, worked as an engineer and researcher for some years, even did some business development. When my children were small, I focused on their well-being and wanted to make sure I was there when they were growing up, so I stopped working for a few years. That’s when my love of art took over and I decided at that time to represent artists from France in the US as I had some prior business experience. Unfortunately, this did not work well for me. So, I decided to focus developing my artistic skills instead of representing others.

My art career started with clay sculptures and watercolors. I loved the sensual feel of clay through my fingers and the results of the figurative sculptures I did then. However, being a mother of small children, I did not have the time and money to invest in all the equipment needed to pursue this first artistic love of mine. Thus, I started to do watercolor landscapes, then acrylic landscapes. I tried some oil painting too but focused on water-baser mediums. All these skills were self-taught at first, but then I took some art classes in art associations as well as at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Mass Art in Boston, MA. I took classes in Graphic Design – I like to experiment with digital art occasionally, mixed media, color theory, abstract collages, jewelry and more. Boston has been my home now for more than 30 years. I do return to France often to visit my family, but Boston is what I call home.

I believe my science background influences me constantly as I love to experiment and try new things when creating. That’s probably why I am fascinated with abstraction and colors. Thus, my constant search for a new way of expressing life, nature and people using different techniques, mediums and dimensions (I like to work in 2D or 3D). I believe life and people’s stories evolves with time. So, I do not see myself limited to one particular way to do art but as a life-long learner, developing my art story to where life, my soul, and my emotions take me. I do not see an end into my creative explorations but a continuous evolution towards where my art should lead me to.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am originally from a family of artists from Provence, France. I have been making and enjoying art throughout my life. I am a world traveler and visited countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. I have lived in various parts of France and the United States, and I now reside in Boston, MA. My work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in New England, New York and other US regions as well as Mexico, Montreal in Canada, Barcelona in Spain, and Paris, France.
As mentioned, my art practice spans over many years. It has evolved from realistic subject matter to abstraction – making the invisible visible. I combine materials, collages, conceptual elements, sometimes words and symbols into my art to produce mixed media or acrylic work. Most of my work is handmade but sometimes I will compose digital work, still handmade, not using AI – although that concept is one that I am starting to think about. I am the sole creator of my work. However, I welcome collaboration whenever the situation arises.
Like many of us, I have been growing concerned about the environment, especially the ocean. Nature is a such a beautiful gift that is given to us that I believe we should work on preserving and saving it as part of our human soul. In my “Environmental Effects” series, I looked at “environmental effects” as being the changes happening in our earth due to human influences. My pieces were a mixed of flowing colors with textural effects using different acrylic pouring and mixed media techniques showing to us how nature (air, water, earth and fire) evolves as humans continues doing their thing affecting their surrounding and the seasons in detrimental ways from the microscopic to the macroscopic. A lover of oceans, I constructed a message to all in my display “under the sea,” informing us how pollution and especially plastic affect us and the oceans.
Another concern of mine is the growing mental health issues our society is creating and their effects on the human soul. I was a teacher in a special needs school for many years and I feel that mental health still comes with much trauma and is misunderstood. My “Black & White Thinking” and “Overcoming Challenges with Colors” series discuss some of these issues.
I also occasionally create art just for fun or to explore new techniques, processes or ideas. Life is too short not to have fun. This is why I love colors and inspire myself from their nature in many parts of my work. This is why I also create abstract and contemporary wearable art pieces or jewelry using wire crochet, enamel paint or polymer clay. I constantly experiment and try to find new ways to express who I am and any message I’d like to share with all.
I love producing art with soul and a more profound meaning whenever the opportunity rises. I am always interested in sharing my work and collaborating with diverse artistic or creative groups and the public. It is my commitment as an artist to help others and share my emotions and perspectives on the human condition. My mission as an artist is valuing the uniqueness in each of us by telling stories of who we are or what is important to us as individuals, humanity, and our values. I have always imagined myself as a teller of “stories” except that images, landscapes, colors, flowers, mixed media, sculptures, paintings, and other ways of expressing myself as an artist using colors, materials and textures, are my ways of telling stories. I am a painter of stories. All my pieces have a story to tell. Some for the viewer to find on their own, some more guided through my brush or the theme of the piece.
“When I look around me and see more than people, the world, beauty, colors, light and emotions, then, I know it is time to express what I see and feel through art.” Sandrine Colson

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

A most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative for me is the pride and sense of accomplishment I get when someone comes to me and ask me about my work and how it makes them feel or relate to the idea or concept, I was trying to express. For me that is when human souls connect between strangers, when my message touch someone’s heart and how it can influence others in a positive way. For me and many others art is a representation of the soul so if someone can feel what your soul was expressing in a unique moment through one of my art pieces, I feel successful and that I helped someone in some way. It encourages me to keep pushing my limits and explorations, to push the boundaries of what is possible in art, which can lead to new and exciting artworks.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Artists and creatives are critical for the human society. Art can communicate information, shape our everyday lives, make a social statement and be enjoyed for aesthetic beauty. Art can create societal changes, express individuality, represent cultures, educate, and challenge the status quo. Art can be used to bring attention to injustices, advocate for different perspectives, and to create positive cultural shifts.
Ways to best support artists in your community is to buy local art directly from artists, donate to arts organizations, educate the public about the influences of artists on the well-being of society, and ensure children keep learning about art and do art in their community and schools as well as provide access to all to express themselves through art.
“Art is vital for society and culture. It stimulates creative thinking, preserves traditions, initiates social change, contributes to the economy, and enhances mental and emotional well-being.” CollaboARTive
“Creative expression is vital to a healthy and open-minded society. Artwork inspires people, gives them hope and can touch a soul in a way that words cannot. The artist has a unique skillset to influence, inspire, and help others.” Frame Destination

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artofheart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandrine_arts_and_jewelry/

Image Credits

All images Sandrine Colson copyright