Sandra Tamkin

Artist Statement

Los Angeles native Sandra Tamkin has spent more than 30 years working in the nonprofit sector, an experience that has profoundly shaped her worldview and artistic expression. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California, with an emphasis in Community Organizing. Her longstanding commitment to social justice, advocacy, and community engagement informs her creative practice, bringing a distinctive perspective to work that explores the intersection of personal experience, social responsibility, and political expression.

Art is how I communicate when words fail me. It is the language I return to again and again—a missing puzzle piece that fits where nothing else does. Through color, texture, shape, and medium, I give form to my inner world, guided by instinct, emotion, and the immediacy of the moment.

My process is intuitive and spontaneous. I rarely concern myself with the outcome, choosing instead to surrender to the act of creating. Some works remain unfinished; others are painted over, transformed, or abandoned. Each is part of the journey. For me, art captures a moment in time—a fleeting conversation between the surface and myself.

I am endlessly fascinated by the ways people experience art, how color, texture, and form can evoke entirely different emotions and interpretations in each viewer. My work is rooted in visual exploration, creating space for calm and chaos, contemplation and discomfort. Sometimes I seek refuge from a volatile world. Other times, my art becomes an act of protest—a way to question, challenge, and resist.

My background in social work and nonprofit advocacy has profoundly shaped my perspective. Witnessing inequities in health care, foster care, and economic opportunity has deepened my awareness of the human consequences of political and social decisions. These experiences inevitably find their way into my work. I am particularly drawn to the tensions between privilege and poverty, power and vulnerability, justice and injustice. Art allows me to confront these realities in ways that words alone cannot.

Creating is not simply something I enjoy; it is something I need to do. It is an instinctive, deeply personal, and often therapeutic process that brings meaning, clarity, and healing. Inspiration comes from everywhere—the unpredictability of life, the world around me, and the emotions that arise in response. Sometimes an idea arrives fully formed, seemingly out of nowhere. Other times, it unfolds gradually over days, weeks, or even years.

Ultimately, my work is both personal and political—a continuing journey of self-discovery and a means of engaging with the world. I hope it invites viewers to pause, feel, question, and connect. At times, I offer moments of stillness; at others, deliberate disruption.

I create to express, to challenge, to resist, and to connect. Above all, I create because even in the midst of chaos, there is meaning—and possibility—in the act of making something new.