Sandy Toland has been creating visual art her entire life.  She has been a professional artist since 1981, when she earned her BFA degree at Colorado State University.  As an active member of Denver's alternative art scene, she has been creating, exhibiting and selling her paintings and sculptures for the last 35 years. In 2000, she was awarded with a Visual Arts Fellowship, from the Colorado Council on the Arts, for excellence in two-dimensional art. For the last 24 years, she has been a self-employed artist doing murals and other art commissions for residential, business, and government clients. Her public art can be seen on Denver’s 16th Street Mall (four painted bus benches), and at the Denver Family Crisis Center (handmade clay tiles and paintings). Her artwork is also in the following corporate collections:  TIAA-CREF, Pinnacol Assurance, Storage Tek, Phoenix’s Children’s Hospital, Denver’s Children’s Hospital, and Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Hospital. Sandy is available to do art commissions:  her studio is located in Northwest Denver at 3609 West 49th Ave. (49th Ave. and Lowell Blvd.).    

This mask is decorated with colorful, commercial, low-fire glazes to create a fanciful floral face.  The design was inspired by the rich bright colors, and floral patterns found in Mexican folk art.