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Sandra Rowe

Sandra Rowe (born 1940) is an African American visual artist and curator who was one of many influential black artists of modern day history.

Early Life

This is the visual artist, curator, sculptor, lecturer, and professor Sandra Rowe.

It was reported that Sandra Rowe was born in 1940 in Richmond, Indiana. Richmond, Indiana was the place where Rowe lived her childhood.

Education

Sandra went to California State University, Fresno and got her Bachelor's Degree of the Arts in 1977. Later she went to the University of California, Irvine to receive her Master of Fine Arts in 1980.

Career

Sandra Rowe started her residency in the California African American Museum and began her installation art with sculptures and paintings. Sandra Rowe began her artistic career by creating abstract demonstrations throughout Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation and the Anaheim Arena. As her career progressed, her art highlighted the themes of race and gender in American society. Many of her art revolved around the ideas of slavery and sexism, which made the audience feel sympathetic towards those who witnessed tragedies in the past and in modern day society. Rowe usually used contradiction in her art to create controversy between the ideas of feminism, androgyny, and sexual identity. Her work at the California African American Museum lead her to be recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts. With her expertise on contemporary and printmaking art, she was assigned as one of the board directors for the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies. Rowe has been an advocate for displaying her art outside of American galleries, such as in Japan, France, Cuba, and Nigeria. Sandra Rowe participated in discussions with the Hatch-Billops Collection in New York about the influence of African American artists in American culture. She was a tenured professor at Cal Poly Pomona and then later retired from that position.

Art

Sculptures

Sandra Rowe used a contemporary modern style and used a lot of color, shapes, and perspectives to show viewers the intricate design of the piece. The sculptures created by Rowe had hidden messages of African American culture embedded into the design. With her skills in art installation, she was able to sculpt many pieces art for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation. Throughout San Pedro Street, Washington Street, and Stanford Street there are many figures of Rowe's work places around the Metropolitan. She was the lead artist for an iconic art project called the Monument to Time in the Corridor of Life, Art, and Culture in the city of Escondido, California. Within the Escondido Art Project were different types of installations expressing the beauty of water and nature. Another public artwork that Sandra Rowe did was the installation called "Pond" in the Anaheim Arena.

Exhibitions

In the few exhibitions, Rowe's displays have been presented to make a political stance on race, and gender. Rowe made a 2,500 square foot piece in 1993 "The Invisible Woman", it is an artwork telling a story about a woman trying to support her family with a low qualifying job. "Legacy of the Survivor" and "Slave Series" are a few of Sandra Rowe's stable pieces that expressed the idea of slavery and racism. In "Legacy of the Survivor" it shows a demonstration of a noose with a note saying "Ourselves not knowing about ourselves." This statement by Rowe was a way to alert the public on all the bigotry and discrimination against African Americans in society. "Slave Series" shows a series of women being displayed with maps of the slave trade movement during the years of colonialism. This is another statement about the abuse of slavery against African American people.

Paintings

Many of Sandra Rowe's paintings are filled with vibrant colors and abstract figures. Most of these illustrations refer to African American's social, cultural, and historical aspects.

Literature

Control (Confrontation '92)

This piece of literature written by Sandra E. Rowe and presented to the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, California. This piece of literature is an additional representation of Rowe's activism towards ending all types of discrimination. She mentions in the writing that racial inequality starting when slavery was a concept. Rowe states that history has always supported slavery as a social norm ever since the Greeks and Aristotle said that "people in slavery deserved be there". She discusses the oppression between women and man and how there should be equal opportunity for both genders to thrive in society. She also mentions that it is illogical to discriminate against people's appearance, disability, and sexual orientation. She ends the article by announcing that there is a possibility that society could live in harmony as a Utopia but there must be control in the way people judge one another.

Excellence in the Face of Adversity

Sandra Rowe made a statement talking about the trials and tribulations of being a women of color by telling an anecdote from her life. The story starts with Rowe talking to a white male Professor at her university about her plans for her future in art. The professor discourages her by saying '" You will never do that."'. Despite his negative comment, she fought through adversity and attained her goals in art and political expression.

Awards

Sandra Rowe got many awards for her accomplishments in her artist work expressing Afro- American culture. National Endowment for the Arts has rewarded Rowe a grant for being the first African American art resident at the California African American Museum. Rowe has also been recognized by Los Angeles Center for Contemporary Art. She has participated in many competitions for her art including being one of the semi-finalist at the $400,000 CRA Los Angeles tunnels project.