Visual Perspectives
AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY
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BY S A L L I E W. B OY L E S | A R T WO R K BY S A N D R A S O L D O AC KOV I C
Born in Belgrade, Sandra lived in Mostar, BosniaHerzegovina, which she describes as “a small city with a lot of charm,” a place that engenders poets and artists. “My city is fifty miles from the Croatian border. We did our day trips to the Adriatic Sea.” With the Mediterranean climate and azure skies embedded in her soul, Sandra says, “All my blues and greens come from my old town and homeland.” From settling in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, she shares, “What I picked from the South are the landscapes. I fell in love with nature.” However, she states, “There’s always more to it. I always try to paint the feeling behind the scenery—how I see it.”
When artist Sandra Soldo Ackovic was young, she says, “I remember my teacher telling me I was brave because I was not afraid of the critique. I paint what comes out of me and give it to the world.” Her intention is “to leave a nice, calm, positive feeling.” Ironically, as Sandra attests, “The colors are screaming.” Using bold hues to create tranquility is her “personal challenge” and her signature. Her journey, in turn, sheds light on Sandra’s artistic viewpoint. “I come from a country that doesn’t exist anymore,” she reveals, referring to Yugoslavia. “We came to America in 1995, during the civil war that started in Bosnia in 1992. I came with my husband, Olja, to connect with my aunt and her family. I am an only child, so I left my parents behind.” Over a yearlong period, she couldn’t contact her parents. “It’s peaceful now,” she says. “The war ended officially in 1997, and everything was nice and calm by 1999.” 50 | SE P T E MBE R 2019
Sandra’s originals cover the walls of her home, yet they represent a fraction of her full body of work. Countless paintings fill her basement studio, which has no windows. “A long time ago,” she explains, “I read in a book by Austrian artist Friedrich Stowasser that artists should not have a studio with windows because they should not look outside; they should look inside themselves. We need daylight to paint, but my understanding is that we can easily get distracted by our environment.
