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Meet the Artist

Sandra Murphy-Pak is an artist challenging and changing the limits of working and living with disability. Her personal diagnosis with ALS (widely known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) has led to new dimensions of achievement in an already spectacular professional career. 

 

Sandra has been a visionary citizen and creative force in more than 30 years as an artist and educator. Since 2015 she has created new original art using her right foot as her only creative implement. Her “Footwork” series of paintings has been featured in national and regional publications and exhibited at major medical and educational institutions.  

 

Sandra was diagnosed with ALS while she was engaged as an artist-in-residence at the prestigious UF Health Shands Arts In Medicine Program. She worked throughout the hospital system. She engaged patients, designed and implemented projects, and collaborated with colleagues within this innovative program. Her improbable transformation from artist and educator to artist-living-with-disability has led to what she considers the most productive creative period of her career.

"When I set to work, I am drawing from my own internal universe, out from my right foot, onto the canvas." 

Sandra has described the philosophy and approach to this body of work: “When I set to work, I am drawing from my own internal universe, out from my right foot, and onto the canvas. The viewer, by resting the eye on the black center, might envision a portal into another dimension, a place of rest within the eternal movement of life. The action of the circle centers around the still point — our individual consciousness.”

 

Sandra holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in fine arts and art education. She is a mother of three thriving daughters and the center of a vibrant network of friends and admirers.  She has worked in locations ranging from her own Gainesville, Florida community to remote villages in Rwanda, where she remains a beloved teacher, volunteer and friend.  Her permanent, public installations, along with private and commissioned works, have gained her a devoted following and an enduring reputation for integrity, ingenuity and generosity.

 

Sandra’s skill, courage and joy permeate her work and elevate the spirit of her peers and every audience. Your purchases and contributions will provide direct support to Sandra and her family, and to the ongoing effort to share her art and her message. Please join us, and please spread the word!

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Sandra Murphy-Pak: an artist living with ALS

Sandra Murphy-Pak: an artist living with ALS

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