Alvin Sandler's narrative biography

In first grade I was "Alvin the artist".
Later I was a National Scholastic gold
key winner, chosen by New York's High
School of Music and Art, and graduated
Art Honor League. While a student I
began exhibiting in New York galleries.

I declined to become an abstract
expressionist. Instead, I chose to study
in Mexico, where important art had
recently been painted as murals in public
and private buildings. This was a seminal
experience resulting in friendships,
Spanish fluency, solid craftsmanship,
and many paintings. They constituted
my first one man show at age 20 in New
York. (I'm now 74.)

     My paintings, drawings etchings, and
sculpture are my true biography. They
reveal my delights, my loves, where I've
been, and what I've learned. Ultimately,
they are my credentials. Study them with
your own eyes. Judge them. Art is about
judgment: yours and the artist's.

     I've been awarded an Halgarten prize
from the National Academy of Design,
had solo shows at Long Island University
and the Hudson River Museum. My triptych
mural of 1965, called "The American
Passion" is in the N.Y. Public Library's
Shomberg Center. My graphic works have
been published by the New York Graphic
Society and Original Print Collectors, Ltd.
The color etchings, in particular, have
received many awards, including one from
the National Arts Club.

    In 1969, after a studio fire which
destroyed much of my work, I returned to
Mexico. What followed was a protracted
period of inspired painting, nature-based,
that has continued to the present.

    In 1980 Katherine and I set up a studio
in Bisbee, Arizona. New work was followed
by exhibitions in Bisbee, Douglas, Sierra
Vista, Tombstone, Tucson and Phoenix.
Following this exposure, there were many
purchases, some of my work was acquired
by the Museum of Art at the University of
Arizona. I was awarded numerous prizes,
and a solo show at the Shemer Museum
in Phoenix,

(In 2002 I swept 1st prizes in portrait,
still-life, landscape, and genre categories
at the Southeast Arizona Art Competition
in Wilcox.) Nevertheless, my art remains
surprisingly unknown, and yet to be
discovered. We hope this website will
introduce our art to art lovers,to know, to
appreciate, and to acquire in our lifetimes.

    Consider some new developments.
I've returned to my earliest artistic
impulses: much like the brilliant
color and complete realizations of the
early Flemish, Dutch and Italian masters.
Check out "Another Day in Paradise".
I sign these newest paintings "Sandor".

     I drew from nature from early
childhood and continue at present as a
student of life drawing at Cochise
College. There, Katherine and I, as
founders of the ART ENTRÉE
FOUNDATION, sponsor a sketchbook
competition with cash prizes.

    Another new development is
sculpture. "Magic Flute", a bronze bust
completed in 2004, is my newest
major work, and my first large bronze.
A standing flutist, "Tamino", now in
fiberglass and resin strides atop a
stone fountain in our garden while
awaiting a commission to be cast
in bronze. You can see "Tamino"
and other work in blue by double-
clicking on its name.

Art Entrée on line

The Studio outlet of Katherine Hagstrum and Alvin Sandler

Art Entrée Email<ArtEntree@ArtEntree.net> Tel: 520 432 7217 P.O. Box 1587, Bisbee, Arizona 85603