Sandy Chism: How Art Forms
"Art is not a recipe," Sandy Chism tells her students as she encourages them to seek thoughtful and original ways to create.
Students in her art classes at Tulane get both instruction and inspiration. Chism, an associate professor of drawing and painting, teaches the techniques artists use to turn their visions into concrete images. But because she is also a working artist, Chism stokes the creativity of each pupil – both those who aspire to careers in art and those who are taking fine arts classes for pleasure.
New Orleans is a great place to study art, Chism says, because the art scene is large enough to be diverse but small enough for artists, gallery owners and art lovers to get to know one another. The Art Department at Tulane is diverse as well. "We don't have an overriding department aesthetic," she says, which allows for many looks and points of view to be expressed. Classes are small, so students can get lots of individual attention, and the art shows the department holds give young artists a chance to exhibit their works and compete with others.
Chism says that even though she has been exhibiting and selling her work for many years, she still gets a thrill when she sees it hanging in someone's home. When she purchases art, Chism often chooses work by her students.
She has exhibited her works both nationally and internationally, including a recent solo exhibition at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery and in 2000, Sandy Chism: A 10 Year Survey was exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and was accompanied by a catalog. Her work has been reviewed in Art in America. She has received grants and fellowships from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Sante Fe Art Institute, among others. She describes her work as stressing "the similarities and interconnectedness of things" and says she has "an interest in trying to capture the sublime" while admitting to "the illusive nature of this endeavor."
In addition to teaching, Chism has taken part in residencies in such places as Debrecen, Hungary, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Being an artist-in-residence allows her to immerse herself in the art and culture of other places and bring that experience back home to her students at Tulane, she says.
Chism is a native of Kansas who earned her Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree from the University of Kansas and her Master's of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona. Her husband, Lane Ikenberry is a builder with degrees in art and architecture She has been with Tulane for 10 years.
In addition to painting, Chism has a strong interest in science, especially in new and exciting research on how the brain and the eye work together. She is also an avid gardener and naturalist, avocations that fit well with the climate of New Orleans.
