Gallery Talk

Meet artists Sandy Cummings and Shailaja Didolkar in this intimate setting and discuss their creative process and inspiration.

Sandy K Cummings’ new collection of colorful and expressive collages features flowers from her garden and a series of images inspired by travel to Cambodia and Iceland. From a distance the collages convey as paintings, but upon closer inspection, the keen observer will discover that the images are made of detailed, multi-layered paper. Sandy’s collages capture the emotional essence of the image, offering a glimpse into the artist’s joy and compassion for everyday living.

Sandy says, “My work is a blend of realism and imagination. When constructing collages, I select paper pieces by color and texture as though I were choosing paint from a palette. Sometimes I find just the paper I have in mind, but most often I improvise which lends itself to intuitive and unexpected effects.”

Sandy K Cummings was born in Washington, DC. She received a B.A. in Studio Art at the University of Maryland and continued her art education at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum School. She has been a member of several artists’ groups over the years and has exhibited widely in the Baltimore/Washington area. Most recently, her collages were on display at A Gallery of Art in Ellicott City, MD. Sandy works out of her home studio in Columbia, Maryland.

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Since her Childhood, Shailaja has been interested in Art. At that time, she was not sure which kind of art she wanted to pursue. As she grew up, her interest shifted to Medicine. She enjoyed the medical profession immensely . Her dream profession as a fine art artist was on the back burner but not forgotten.

She practiced successfully as an academician training undergraduates and graduate students, and a physician practicing OB/Gyn with special interest in high-risk pregnancy MFM (Maternal -Fetal – Medicine). She married during her medical career and has two beautiful children and to top it have five wonderful grand kids, which compelled her to retire from medicine. So, with great enthusiasm, the day she retired, she looked for a fine art studio. Luckily, she found a great fine art studio nearby. Zoll studio was and is exactly what she was looking for.

At Zoll studio, she started learning fine art from scratch, it not only gave her art training but new friends & social life. She still goes to the studio twice a week which gives her great pleasure. At Zoll studio, she started all basic skills related to art. She even tried sculpting and plein-air. She enjoys oil painting; still life and portraiture & She is still a student of art and loves it.