Sandra Jo Hackbarth
(Martinez)
223 Canyon Road, Santa Fe
Sandra Jo Hackbarth comes to art through clay. For years sanctuary meant mud.
Conceptual art, design methods and generous mentors nudged her to redefine her relationship to making.
To remove barriers, she left clay behind and shifted to low, portable, accessible materials and a simple style rooted in an automatic drawing/ journaling practice.
“I often think of my Dad drawing a map on a napkin with a ball point pen. That’s how close I want my art.”
Sandra Jo found a new sanctuary in journal based drawing: a tool for processing the twists and turns of life…a scrying mirror, a record of memory, a compass, a hint of what is calling from under the surface.
Some drawings are fleshed out with layers of acrylic, dirt from favorite lakes, rivers, adobe from the house, Sumi, inks, all kinds of pencils, crayons, lately, posca markers.
Often gifted, favorite substrates are Tyvek, old books and calligraphy documents. She pretends the book pages are blank, preferring to be surprised by what text may be visible in the final work rather than using its original content as a prompt.
Artist in Residence Thru Apr ‘25
A tendency to break things down and make more things from the fragments, squeezing a bit more growth out of the materials permeate her process. Lately, there is so much dirt in the paint, it feels like working on ceramic tiles. Layers of acrylic washes strengthen paper enough to be folded, pressed and pulled into works that are no longer flat. Decals are throwing shadows from the glass, black on black vinyl is added to the frames. Shaking things up.
United States Artists fellowship in Collaborative Craft 2018
Permanent Collections include: Museum of Wisconsin Art, Miller Art Museum, Lawrence University, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and many private collections.
Co-founder of Martinez Studio with Wenceslao Martinez 1994-2024
