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Sandy first came to Italy to be with her partner, the sculptor John Fisher, and enjoyed the influences of the Italian Renaissance, and the detailed work of the Baroque.

From observing the sculptors she learned about shadow and light, negative shape and profile lines. However, she was offered a three month artist residency in a paper making village in Japan where she discovered an economy of stroke and a muted palette which inspired her to develop her work with paper.

Gail and I met Sandy at Pescarella studios, in Vallechia, on the road from Pietrasanta towards Carrara. As we entered the large studio space, Sandy was calmly taping collages onto the wall, for a pop-up exhibition she was staging.

Her beautiful collages feature fruits, wine bottles and inviting cups of cappuccino - with froth you can almost taste. There’s a three dimensional effect on wooden spoons that she has created with papers of different shades.

On another work a tower of coffee cups leans so precariously I want to reach out and save them.

Beside Sandy there’s a table heaped with fine, plain and patterned, papers carefully arranged by colour. She shows us some samples of the paper and talks about how they are made and tells us about her techniques.

Sandy speaks about an ongoing series of womens’ portraits called Women in the World. In this project she aims to honour and recognise struggles and successes of notable women who have made a special contribution to the world. This life-long series includes visual artists, actors, musicians, scientists and political activists.

On her birthday Sandy does a collage self-portrait to reflect on the year behind and the one ahead. She talks about her childhood and the words of wisdom she took from her father who escaped Germany in WW2 and came to America.

sandyoppenheimercollage.com

instagram.com/sandyoppenheimer