For decades, Sandra Rubel was known for her one-of-a-kind handpainted silk and embroidered garments.
Upon graduation, she established a weaving studio in Providence, RI and began exhibiting and selling her hand-woven garments at craft shows throughout the Northeast, including the first juried American Craft Council show in Rhinebeck, NY.
Her woven accessories evolved first into knitted garments, and ultimately into hand painted, one-of-a-kind silk couture, which she produced for over 24 years.
For over 20 years, Sandra has participated in an average of 12 to 16 national juried craft shows per year, sponsored by organizations such as the American Craft Council, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, DC.
In 1979, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art chose Sandra’s work for the first ever exhibition of wearable art to be presented by a major fine arts museum in the United States. In 1982, Sandra participated in a two year traveling exhibition of contemporary American wearable art, sponsored by the American Craft Museum, which toured the museums of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Phillippines. In 1986, Sandra was invited by China’s Minster of Culture to be among the first official delegation of American artisans and art educators to visit the People’s Republic. And, for nearly 20 years, her work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, the American Craft Museum in New York City, and the Los Angeles Folk Art Museum, as well as numerous galleries throughout the country.
Fundamental to the work itself are the exotic locations where the silk was painted. Sandra always worked outdoors, in redwood forests, on the tops of mountains, in farmers’ fields, and on rocky beaches. The texture of the landscape always has a hand in the patterning of the finished product, as the silk is flipped and the dye runs in unpredictable ways.
No two items are alike, and the finished result is both hand-assembled and completely bespoke.
Sandra’s clients flocked to her studio from around the world to be fitted for garments featuring her newest work.
