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Andrea Sacker is a New York based painter working in oils, gouache and watercolor. I paint places, people and things that are dear to my heart, collecting and distilling the images mostly from my own photographs. I use my intuitive sense of color and composition to reflect my emotional relationship to the subject mostly within the satisfying limitations of a square. During the height of covid and the 'shutdown', I unconsciously started painting the interiors of my home over and over and over. This is one such interior.

The painted constructions emerge as transmutations of my most resounding responses to the world around and within me. They are not mere representations but transformative expressions born from profound encounters with the natural world. These works memorialize instances of revelation that occur in the space between observation and understanding—ephemeral moments that would otherwise slip away unrecorded. My artistic practice weaves together accumulated experiences, approaching that sense of truth discovered only when fully immersed in the artistic elements. In these moments of complete sensory engagement—when one is simultaneously aware of nature's boundless energy, the boundaries between self and environment dissolve. This construction serves as a vessel for that transcendent understanding that emerges when the senses are fully enmeshed in the natural world. It invites viewers to access their moments of revelation through the layered, textural dialogue between material and memory. Shadows are the natural consequence of being.

I love drawing and painting people and animals where ever I happen to be ...trains, buses, waiting rooms, parks, etc. Most of my subjects don't know that I'm drawing them. I draw from life and often mix and match to create idyallic yet quirky scenes. I was walking a close family pet in the park. In my mind, she jumped up on the bench of random strangers and became family. it inspired this bucolic friendly Prospect Park image.

I love going to Green Cay Wetlands and Wakodahatchee Wetlands, too. The weather was perfect for a perfect wind blowing the plants and water. I used my camera to move as I was walking with the plants. What a lucky day for me.

Transparent watercolor reflecting the vibrance of the water and the lush vegetation on the mountain

I use stencils and masks which I have made from YUPO, a synthetic material, to use in creating monotype prints. The build up of color and pattern on the stencils/masks over time creates interest of its own which, in turn, adds an intriguing element when combined as a collage elements with my monotypes. I use a chair motif in much of my work as a metaphor for human feelings. The chair in this piece may suggest a sense of reflection or, perhaps, a journey, or something uniquely personal to the person viewing it.

I create small vessels on the wheel, manipulate them adding texture and assemble them in a vertical configuration. I have been exploring this technique which started in a small scale and now have a series of them varying their shapes from wall hanging installations to these vertical creations which vary in size, form and glazing techniques..

"Flotsam, Light Shaft in Pink" presents an abstract narrative describing debris and light bouncing around an enigmatic water environment. The term “flotsam” speaks to a sense of the lost and found. Residing somewhere between landscape, figuration, and narrative, I present landscape elements in terms of parts that are disembodied and ready for arrangement. I like to play with their formal relationships, to jostle any sense of fixed placement. Forms that we might recognize as either shadow or structure become at once horizontal and vertical as they share the painted plane. A leaf can be both a figure in the landscape and a signal about decay. Shape becomes the result of withheld paint as well as applied.

I experiment with various acrylic paints, gels, fiber pastes, mica flakes, charcoal, found/recycled items, and most recently water-based oil paints. I do not use digital art as I enjoy using my hands in a painterly manner, like a gardener putting her hands in the Earth’s soil. I use these materials as most are water based and kinder to our planet. The emotional base of my work are the environmental challenges we face. My never-ending ideas come from news reports, science-based books and native culture tradition and stories.

Given the state of our world, I wanted to paint an Icon of hope. For me in my life hope comes often from my garden, and I was thrilled when I realized that two denizens of my garden, Swallows and Artichokes, are traditionally conceived as symbolic of hope. Swallows (Hirundo Rustica) carry the spirits of deceased children giving ease to grieving parents, and the tender-hearted Artichokes have long been symbols of prosperity and hope. I wanted to show how these beings, especially the swallows, bring treasure and beauty into my garden and take what they find there back out into the world. Giving and gaining, stitching the realms together. So, I split the image into two reflections and made the painting convertible. Hung one way the Swallows are incoming and hung the opposite way they are dispersing.

My current work is a documentary self-portrait as I go through pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and postpartum. The multidisciplinary work consisting of video, glass and breastmilk sculpture, painting, and works on paper is a direct cry of motherhood pride and fragility. In my practice I dissect, peel, slice, unveil and reorganize extreme experiences to help me process their impacts. I address the taboo topics of motherhood and challenge societal perceptions, advocating for the rights and lived experiences of mothers.

I wanted to find a way to give people hope and the Japanese culture and Spirituality have always inspired me. The sun (Taiyo) in the Japanese culture is a symbol of life, light and the vital force that sustains all living things. It also symbolizes hope, renewal and new beginnings. I incorporated modern and ancient textile patterns to illustrate the opportunity we have to learn from our past and use that knowledge to transform our future.