Jo Sandman / TRACES

After a life-changing summer studying at Black Mountain College, Boston-based artist Jo Sandman decided to devote her life to art. At BMC during that pivotal summer of 1951, she studied painting with Robert Motherwell and Ben Shahn; drawing with Joseph Fiore, photography with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind; anthropology and French. It was this “galvanizing experience” at BMC that prompted Jo Sandman to decide to follow the path of an artist. She went on to develop and maintain a studio practice exploring painting, drawing, experimental sculpture, installation, and photography for more than sixty years. Her restless curiosity always led the way towards experimentation with a wide variety of imagery, materials, and processes.​​

After her summer at Black Mountain College, Sandman earned her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University in 1952, and then reconnected with Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell at Hunter College in New York. She also studied with Hans Hofmann at the Hans Hofmann School of Painting in Provincetown, MA and again in New York City, where she served as registrar to help pay tuition expenses. During this time in New York, Sandman became a member of The Club, a legendary group of Abstract Expressionists and avant-garde artists and intellectuals who gathered to talk and argue about art and then adjourn to The Cedar Tavern after meetings. Sandman went on to earn graduate degrees from UC/Berkeley in 1954 and Harvard College in 1956 and subsequently worked for Walter Gropius at The Architect’s Collaborative (TAC). In addition to maintaining a robust studio practice, she taught at Wellesley College and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and many other visiting artist posts. 

Jo Sandman’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Asheville Art Museum, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Huntington Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Seattle Museum of Art, as well as college art museums at Bates, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Amherst, MIT, Mt Holyoke College, NYU, Rhode Island School of Design, Smith, UNC-Greensboro, and Wellesley. Sandman has received grants from the NEA and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as multiple fellowships and awards for her work.​

Credit: Overview from museum website

Image credit: Installation view