Artist Spotlight Series: Isca Greenfield Sanders

As a child I took informal lessons from my grandfather Joop Sanders who is a painter and founding member of the American Abstract Expressionist group. I learned the basics of photography from my father Timothy Greenfield-Sanders who is a portrait photographer and filmmaker. I grew up shooting, developing and printing images in his darkroom.

My high school had an excellent art program, one teacher Mrs. Thompson, was particularly inspiring to me. She encouraged a group of us to give Honors Art as much time after school as we had been giving our sports teams (which were very popular at my school.) Honors Art “practiced” each afternoon as if we were on a competitive team. This really pushed my art practice forward.

I attended Brown University and double majored in Mathematics and Visual Art.

I also took a number of classes at RISD (where I met my husband.)

What inspires you and your designs?

I am interested in the figured landscape and its relationship to memory – how universally recognizable places (beaches, family picnics, poolside scenes) can evoke both deeply personal and communal associations and even a sense of foreboding.

What is one of your favorite pieces? pictures if possible…

I love Turner’s sketch books, here is one I just came across that took my breath away…

Joseph Mallord William Turner | View of London ?from Nunhead, with the Sun Breaking through Stormy Clouds; St Paul’s Cathedral in the Distance 1796–7

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-view-of-london-from-nunhead-with-the-sun-breaking-through-stormy-clouds-st-pauls-d01174

and another

Joseph Mallord William Turner | Ships in a Storm with Lightening c.1834

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/sketchbook/the-fire-at-sea-sketchbook-65908/7

How has your area influenced your work?

I grew up in the East Village in the 1980s in the middle of the contemporary art scene. Many galleries were in my neighborhood and my family regularly attended shows. Art hung throughout our house, two floors of which served as my father’s studio. My father, grandfather and uncle are all artists.

I never had to leap toward the unknown. I knew up close what it was to be an artist. Many artists have described to me having to break it to their families (or to themselves) that they were going to pursue art professionally. My dilemma was how and when to give up Math.

What is your favorite restaurant in New York?

Takahachi on Avenue A in NYC. It is a family favorite.

What is your favorite cocktail?

I have been known to enjoy a good Dark ‘N’ Stormy.

How do you balance personal life and work?

I make numerous extraordinary neat lists by hand.

Dream trip?

My husband and I would like to take our two sons to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Holland. You bicycle around the 75 acres of sculpture and out buildings that house works by Mondrian, van Gough, Seurat, Redon, Braque, Gaugin, Cranack, Ensor, Gris and Picasso. It is so much fun, I went as a child and loved it.

Dream commission?

I would like to design a complete room in panels after seeing Matisse’s “The Swimming Pool” his site specific cut-out housed in the dining room of his hotel room at the Hotel Regina in Nice.

Your favorite host / hostess gift to give?

Harney and Sons metal boxed tea. I drink their “Paris Tea” and save the boxes to hold my color pencils.

Who is one of your style icons?

I am big fan of what my friend Veronica Swanson Beard and her sister-in-law Veronica Miele Beard are up to over at VERONICA BEARD. I pretty much want one of everything from their SPRING 2016 line.

Your favorite up and coming artist?

It is getting to be present time, so I find myself heading to the designer and artist Susan Dwyer at UPINTHEAIRSOMEWHERE.COM I think she is so talented and I own a number of her pieces. They make great gifts.

Describe a treasured possession?

My husband, Sebastian Blanck, is also a painter. He makes paintings using collage and watercolor. Outside of his commissioned portraits, he aims to make a painting a day. He often paints me, and our two sons. Especially as life seems to rush by, his portraits of our boys are deeply treasured and hang throughout our home.