Sandra Wakeen, nationally and internationally renowned painter and teacher, has pursued a lifelong devotion to her art.

Following a family tradition of three generations of artists, Sandra began her studies at Paier School of Art, graduating with honors in 1978. Beginning as an illustrator and portrait artist, she continued her studies in Europe, at Studio Escalier in France with Tony Ryder, Ted Seth Jacobs, and in Italy at Florence Academy Studio of Fine Art. Her studies include Forensic Facial Reconstruction with Betty Pat Gatliff at Scottsdale Artists School and sculpture with Lincoln Fox.

Sandra has been honored with numerous awards and recognition from esteemed national art organizations for her contemporary realism paintings. She has been juried into the Oil Painters of America Inaugural Salon Show, and featured in Fine Connoisseur Magazine still life issue. Recently Sandra has been accepted Oil Painters of America National Exhibition and Art Renewal Center Annual Salon show for three consecutive years and the The Salmagundi Club NY.

When not painting, Sandra enjoys the privilege of teaching and mentoring aspiring artists. She is passionate about cultivating the arts at home and abroad. Sandra helped create an artists cultural exchange in Florence, Italy for American and Italian artists to study and learn from each other.

Sandra has served on the Board of Directors for the Lyme Art Association, Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists. Sandra is also a founding member of Wethersfield Academy for the Arts where she has served as President and Atelier Director. She created and taught Connecticut’s first formal Atelier program.

Sandra’s work presently resides in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Florence Griswold Museum, and the FFAST Museum in Fiesole, Italy. She was included in Academic Artists 60t​ h Anniversary Exhibition at the Springfield Art Museum. Her work can be seen in galleries throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island and Massachusetts.