Sandra C. Fernández ~ Texas

Body in2 wishing
a poem by Marian Farrior
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Andrea Cocoi Press, 1992.
Edition of 12.

6" x 8.75" closed, opens to 17.5" x 17". Fold out page. Printed on Koshi Handmade paper. Set in Palatino type. Lithograph illustrations. Bound in paper over boards with sewing element and thread closure. Signed by Fernández and Farrior.

Sandra Fernández: "'Body in2 Wishin' is a poem written by Marian Farrior inspired by images of ancient goddesses, calendars, and personal icons illustrated by the artist."

Five verses that are revealed as the book is unfolded. The first verse begins "Hands stretch out touching this earth dream body." The initial look at the pages makes one think of women represented throughout history but that is just one layer. Like the earth's layers this book is about Mother Earth and our relationship with her "she changes everything she touches & everything she touches changes."

Marion Farrior: "Learning about nature's patterns is a spiritual practice for me. I've developed a deeper appreciation of the incredible beauty that exists in the world, and also the interrelatedness of living things. We don't necessarily see these relationships in our day-to-day lives, but we can discover how to slow down, observe them, and learn from them, " ("Getting to know nature though art, writing, ...", February 14 2017)

Marian Farrior is a Restoration Work Party Manager at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum has been a leader in ecological restoration since 1934, as well as an important site for ecological research. The Arboretum's Earth Partnership program began in 1991 as a community-based volunteer program linked to ongoing restoration projects.
$600

Childhood memories III: growing up in Ecuador
By Sandra C. Fernández
Madison, Wisconsin: Sandra C. Fernández, 1995. One-of-a-Kind.

5.75" x 5" x 5" crocheted basket with lid and closure of loop and knot. Cyanotypes attached to the four sides of the basket. Sewn to the interior of the lid is a 2.5 x 3.25” accordion book with ten panels. Each panel contains a cyanotype. Book unfurls from interior lid and folds back in place with a crocheted tie. Laid in the bottom of the basket is a 4.5” circular cyanotype of the young girl which can be removed and hung by the crocheted loop at the top. Materials: Crocheted raffia, cyanotypes printed on veneer, bark paper. Signed by the artist.

Sandra C. Fernández: "I grew up in Quito surrounded by the skillful work of indigenous people who utilized, amongst various techniques, basketry. When I moved back to the US, I learned photographic processes including Cyanotype. This book metaphorically brings together my two worlds but carries nostalgically the one that I left behind. An envelope unties to reveal some experiences from my upbringing while a wide opened eyes girl witnesses -or perhaps premonitions- a very different future."
(SOLD)

Nourishment Structure
By Sandra C. Fernández
Austin, Texas: Sandra C. Fernández, 1994-1995. One of a kind.

9.5 x 6.5 x 5", womb-shaped structure on 4 legs . Materials: Vandykes [also called Vandyke Browns, a photographic process that takes its name from the deep brown pigment associated with the Flemish painter Van Dyke] printed on wood, crocheted linen, coiled raffia, cinnamon powder.

Sandra C. Fernández: “This work is about me becoming a mother. It came about after I gave birth to my first child. The oval shape refers to the uterus, and the crocheted 'ball' is the placenta. It also refers to the umbilical cord that nurtures the life of the fetus inside the womb. The entire shape is symbolic of the uterus as a container. The images on the outside are my handwriting as a child (they can be anybody’s handwriting of a kid), and the image is a sonogram of my boy in my womb when he was just a fetus. This is a maternal piece, celebratory of pregnancy and childbirth.”
(SOLD)

Remembering mi abuelita Carlota
By Sandra C. Fernández
Austin, Texas: Sandra C. Fernández, 1995. One of a kind.

7 x 10 x 5.5" structure. Cyanotypes printed on wood. Other materials: coiled raffia, thread, found objects.

A wooden box on legs, when opened, reveals two smaller boxes. The box's exterior has almost unreadable handwritten text. The interior contains two handmade unlidded miniature boxes. The boxes are sewn at the seams for binding the sides together. The interior of the boxes have small objects resembling brightly colored toys.

Sandra C. Fernández: "The cyanotypes are of my grandmother. The text is of different things: front right, a letter from my grandfather to me (in Spanish). I added this letter to the front of her 'house' because he was the center of her life; the text on the front left is a letter I wrote when I was a child. My grandmother and grandfather played a very important role in my life as a child. They brought me up together with my mom.

"The items in the boxes relate to my grandmother as a pious woman and also as the head of the household. They are boxed in and compartmented to signify how those two things in her life had to be divided and separated. My grandfather was a socialist and an atheist, so my grandmother had to keep her beliefs to herself. Yet she was the head of the household."
(SOLD)

Souvenirs
By Sandra C. Fernández
Austin, Texas: Sandra C. Fernández, 2008. One-of-a-Kind.

5.25" x 7" x 5.5” box containing a crocheted element and an accordion book. Lid is attached via leather straps. Spanish text covers all the surfaces of the box. A crocheted element is suspended in the interior via red threads affixed to the walls. A nine panel accordion book is laid atop the crocheted piece. On the lid top, anchored with red thread, is a crocheted piece with red willow twigs intertwined. Materials: Wood, Vandykes, text from 16th-century Spanish writings on the Americas, various handmade and Japanese papers, inkjet photographs, antique crocheted application, waxed linen thread, red willow twigs, leather, and silk threads. Signed by the artist.

Sandra C. Fernández: "This book talks about overcoming struggles. The images of scars represent hardships of all kinds: from pain to loss, from emptiness to acceptance, from comfort to realizations of new incapacities in life. At the same time, all these images are surrounded by delicate laces and sensual curves that stitched together make us be reminded that life is a beautiful gift despite all the struggles we are faced to defeat."
(SOLD)