Sandra de Vries grew up in the Netherlands and started her education in a Teachers College in the subjects languages, literature and textile art. She moved to Israel and apprenticed in a ceramic studio for 2 years. She traveled through Asia, mostly on a mountain bike and eventually ended up in Vernon, BC. She started teaching ceramic classes at the Arts centre and started to develop her interest in metal and mixed media.
She has always been involved in the arts community first by setting up an arts co-op called Inspiral. From there on she become one of the funding members of Gallery Vertigo and continued to set up her own gallery with co owners Carolina Sanchez de Bustamante and Susan Brandoli called The Fugitive Gallery.
There were many ventures and now she lives in one of the suites at the Caetani House with her children Eva and Noa and has her studio at the Caetani House, where she continue to collect all kinds of discarded materials and recreate new works.
Sandra likes to collect discarded materials and re-use them into different images in which I playfully like to comment on the relationship of society and consumerism. Her work explores issues of memory, fantasy, utility, and the desire to re-create the meaning from discarded material elements. She likes working with metal and to use it in a manner that defies the rigidity of this material. Titles like “quilt” and “patchwork” refers to softness and pieces are often attached (sewn) together with metal wire or even magnets.