Sandra Cavanagh’s career began in 1997, after completing a Foundation in Fine Arts and a BA degree from the Kent Institute of Art and Design, University of Kent, UK. In the time since she has maintained a consistent practice and developed a large portfolio of work to include paintings, drawings and prints. She sustains a mostly narrative focus, often as a reaction to sociopolitical events with the intention of codifying ideas and feelings. Within this development, various subjects recur, such as the mythological feminine as a vehicle to explore patriarchal brutality and its weight on the collective, the consideration of mortality and the loss of innocence in transgenerational stories, visceral reactions both to memories and events of current general concern. She has often worked in series, creating pictorial storylines with some urgency to exhaust the subject and form to the point of understanding or unburdening herself of it. The result is an annotation of feelings underscoring a dramatic approach to form and message.


Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cavanagh’s first two decades were pitched on the tensions between a loving family life and constant political upheavals, unrestrained military governments and the ominous danger of politically sanctioned brutality and censorship. She read Social Sciences at the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires before emigrating to California and later to the UK where she completed studies in Fine Art. She returned to full residency in the United States in 2010 and has worked and resided in New York City ever since. 

Education

1997

Kent Institute of Art and Design (K.I.A.D.)

B.A. Illustration


1994

Kent Institute of Art and Design (K.I.A.D.)

Foundation Course in Fine Arts


Solo Exhibitions

2024

War and Myth, The Arts District, Virtual Show


Group Exhibitions

2025

Art Exchange: America x Italy, Museo Limen, Vibo Valentia, Italy

Winter Juried Exhibition, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY

Looking In / Looking Out, Conversations with Artists, Virtual Show


2024

Aqua Art Miami, Gallery 14C, Miami, FL

Fearless Watercolors, Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition, Brooklyn, NY

Connecticut Women Artists, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CA

War Peace, Gallery 14C, Jersey City, NJ

Salon des Refusés 2024, Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition, Brooklyn, NY

Bridging Divides, See|Me, theBLANC Art Space New York, NY

Radiant Voices: A Showcase of Contemporary Women Artists, Visionary Art Collective, Virtual Show

Up Close From Afar, Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY

Fluid Realities, Crown Gallery, Metro Art Studios, Bridgeport, CT

dis(place)ment, Second State Press, Philadelphia, PA

2024 Summer Exhibition, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY

Summer Brew, Field Projects, Virtual Show

Womanhood, The Anti-Misogyny Club, Virtual Show

Pearl Space, Aedra Fine Arts, Virtual Show

By Land or By Sea, Pretty Girls Making Cool Shit, Virtual Show

Interiority, Culturally Arts Collective, Virtual Show

The Now: Fever Dream, Pen & Brush, New York, NY

Static Motion, Gallery 14C, Jersey City, NJ

War, Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY

Every Woman Biennale: I Will Always Love You, La Mama Galleria, New York, NY

Visual Memoirs: Portraits, Self-Portraits, and Selfies, Super Secret Projects, Beacon, NY

Love-Struck, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, Virtual Show

Imaginarium: The Universe of the Mind, NY Artist Circle at Art At First, New York, NY

Myths and Legends of the World, Miami National Fine Arts x EFA Robert Blackburn, Miami, FL

The Incorrigible Drawing clüb.2, Ladies Drawing Club, Virtual Show

Women Celebrate Women 2024, El Barrio's Artspace, New York, NY  


2023

Eclecticism, Orange Art Foundation, Virtual Show

The Big Small Show, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ

The Pain of Others, The Starving Artist, Virtual Show

I Would Prefer Not To, Art Fair 14C at Art150, Jersey City, NJ

Vivarium, Pretty Girls Making Cool Shit, Virtual Show

De.Code, NY Artists Circle, Virtual Show

Family: Blood/Bond, Culture Lab LIC, Plaxall Gallery, Queens, NY

Inevitability of Absence, Culture Lab LIC, Plaxall Gallery, Queens, NY

Childhood Unmuted, Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut, Virtual Show

The Body Remembers, The Starving Artist, Virtual Show 

Abacus, Fresh Salad, Virtual Show

Volume Up: Artists Responding to Music and Sound, The Painting Center, New York, NY

Reflections’ Edition II, Royal Blue Gallery, Virtual Show

Women Celebrate Women, El Barrio Artspace, New York, NY

A Larger Idea, LICA’s Third Annual Drawing Exhibition, LIC-A Art Space at The Factory, Long Island City, NY

City Life: Captured, Scene and Unseen, NY Artists Circle, Virtual Show


2022

13th Annual Figurative Exhibition, Lore Degenstein Gallery, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA

Lines, Flatfile Gallery, Virtual show

My Body, My Choice, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Portals, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY


2021

Drawn From Life III, Upstream Gallery, Hudson, NY


Artist Talks/Lectures

2023

NYC Group Crit January


2021

Female Artists On Color, ATOA - Virtual Open Studio


Publications

Isreal, Daniel, WAR peace’ Exhibit At Gallery 14C Extended Until March, TAPinto Jersey City, November 16, 2024 

The Anti-Misogyny Club Journal, Issue 1, October 2024

McCall, Tris, Six Picks for a More Modest JCAST, Jersey City Times, October 1, 2024

Create! Magazine (Curated by Tax Collection and Square 1 Gallery), Print Issue #47, Fall 2024

Harms, Holi, Up Close From Afar (Westbeth Art Gallery), The Front Row Center, October 8, 2024

Visual Arts Journal, Visual Arts Press, School of Visual Arts, Issue 4, July 2024 

Suboart Magazine #26, Summer Print Issue, July 2024

Enjoying The Color, Artwork Gallery, Issue 7, June 2024

Art Seen 13, Art Seen Magazine, The Curator's Salon, 2024

100 Emerging Artists of 2024: Women's Edition, Arts to Hearts Project, 2024

What Is She?, Feminist Spaces Journal (Featured on cover), Department of English at the University of West Florida, Summer Issue 10, 2024

eARTH, Renowned Magazine, Planetary Series, Volume III, May 2024

Sandra Cavanagh, Finalist: Painting and Drawing, Women United Art Magazine: Special Edition, April 13, 2024

Meet Sandra Cavanagh, Canvas Rebel, April 11, 2024

In the Spotlight: Sandra Cavanagh, Women United Art Prize, Issue 4, February 2024

No Name Collective Magazine, 2023 Volume 5, December 2023

The Pain of Others: Artists Responding to the Impacts of War and Violence, The Starving Artist, November 2023

The Purposeful Mayo Journal, Issue 3.3, November 2023

Studio Visit Book Vol-2, Arts to Hearts Project, 2023

Mosca, David, Artists hope simultaneous fairs elevate 34th JCAST, The Jersey Journal, October 13, 2023

Women's Edition 2023 (Featured on cover), Create! Magazine, Print Issue 37, 2023

Summer '23, Milk Press, The Poetry Society of New York, 2023

Blue, Polemical Zine, Issue 19, Fall 2023

Suboart Magazine, Print Issue #7, July 2023

Sandra Cavanagh, Epicenter NYC, 30 May, 2023

Feminist Spaces Journal, Department of English at the University of West Florida, Fall/Winter Issue, 2023

Divide Magazine, Issue 5, February 2023

Rituals & Ceremonies, Sunflower Station Press, Print Issue 3, January 2023

Artist Interview: Sandra Cavanagh, Contemporary Art Collectors Catalogue, January 2023


Awards

2023

Finalist (4th Place) - 2023 Women United Art Prize: Painting & Drawing Category, Juried by Gita Joshi, Ekaterina Popova, Erika B Hess and Mona Lerch 

Special Mention Artist, Emerging Woman Artist Award 

Contemporary Art Collectors Emerging Artists Program 2023


Affiliations

Al-Tiba9

Guild Hall

NY Artists Circle

Odetta Digital

Painting Center Art File

White Columns