Sandy Visse

Most of Sandy Visse’s work is figurative and whimsical in nature expressing her love of animals and folk art. She makes one of a kind ceramic sculptures with a thrown base or multiple forms that are then altered and individualized through hand building. She uses several different clays and firing processes to achieve a desired end result. Although, Sandy is self-taught, she gains inspiration and knowledge from different art or ceramic classes or workshops that she occasionally attends. She has been a member of the Oregon Potter’s Association for many years and exhibited her work in galleries in the Pacific Coast States as well as Idaho and Arizona. Recently, Sandy was one of 100 Portland artists that was chosen to paint a lifesize fiberglass cow with a design of her own to contribute to the Portland benefit “Kows for Kids”.

Sandy’s sculptures are all unique and one of a kind, ranging from realistic giraffes, zebras, ravens, meerkats to whimiscal cats, aligators, frogs, dolls, rabbits, dogs, and even some made up creatures. One such popular creature is the “Camelabra” which holds a candle and has its own history. “History of the Camelabra: In the Egyptian culture the camel was found to be an aphrodisiac to add romance to an evening. Young men and women wold often place camels near their tents and use camel symbols to enhance the romantic mood and aroma of their dates. These camelabras are sensuously handbuilt so as to contain maximum powers. They come with a guarantee to hold one candle and enhance your romantic eve.”

Sandy also created a series of Stretch Llamas which carried their own history. “History of Stretch Llamas: Stretch Llamas were developed by William Randolph Hearst at his “ranch” in San Simeon, California, Hearst being one of the first to introduce Llamas to North America. He needed these friendly animals to assist his guests in traversing the terrain around his modest ranch house. Since Llamas are friendly to humans and communicate with their necks it made sense to breed for longer and longer necks to obtain more expressive and impressive Llamas. The long necked Llamas became such a hit at the ranch that many of their characteristics were carried back to LA where most of the guests lived. These characteristics spawned both an industry (stretch limos) and LA culture traits (rubbernecking and spiting at people you don’t like. Sandy’s stretch Llamas are handbuilt and are guaranteed not to spit.” Copyright by Sandy.

If you should become intrigued with a new creation by Sandy Visse, you might ask her if the animal has a particular “History”?

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