Staff Show 2017: Kim Sandara

In this series, Manager of Visitor and Family Engagement Emily Bray highlights participants in the 2017 James McLaughlin Memorial Staff Show, on view through September 17, 2017. 

 What do you do at The Phillips Collection? I work at the Admissions desk. It’s interesting seeing how often we get international visitors, as well as people who live right down the street. There’s a wide range of folks who come in. 

Who is your favorite artist in the collection? My favorite artists in the collection are Georgia O’Keeffe, Van Gogh, and Rothko. I really enjoy their use of color and flow of line work. 

What is your favorite space within The Phillips Collection? The gallery with the Jacob Lawrence series is certainly an interesting one to go through. I love sequential work and the history being told is so significant. 

What would you like people to know about your artwork on view in the 2017 Staff Show (or your work in general)? My work is about the translation of sound to visuals. I listen to a wide range of music and work in a stream-of-consciousness manner. I used to state what songs I was listening to but no longer want to put the audience under that subjectivity. I find it much more satisfying to hear what people experience when looking at my work. I like to think of it like cloud watching, there are no wrong answers, just lots of room for imagination. 

About the artist Kim Sandara was born in Falls Church, Virginia, 1994. In 2016 she graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, obtaining a BFA in General Fine Arts with a concentration in Illustration and Book Arts . She likes to explore all types of creating and design. In her time at MICA, she has taken classes in print making, painting, graphic design, animation, and illustration. Her practice is inspired by surrealism, abstract expressionism, personal narrative, fantastic story telling and the graphic and bold visual tendencies of street art. She also enjoys staying up until 4am writing, engaging in spiritual conversations and jotting down realizations about life that spastically enter her mind only at night. Kim Sandara’s work naturally explores stream of consciousness and perceptions of inner psyche versus outer persona. All of her work has an interest in psychology, stream of consciousness and she enjoys working in a sequential manner. 

The 2017 James McLaughlin Memorial Staff Show is on view August 3 through September 17, 2017.