Sandra Lee Van Dam began  her creative journey in New York State with dance and piano lessons at age 5, took up drums at age 9 and  continued to study piano, dance and percussion through her college years, graduating in 1976 from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, VA with a Bachelor of Music Performance degree in percussion. Art was always in the background and a college class introduced her to the  wider world of art.

She moved to Colorado in 1978 and won  the position of Principal Percussionist with the Colorado Springs Symphony, also taking a few art classes at Pikes Peak Community College. She married  a handsome young saxophonist named Howard, had 2 sons, and was happy to be just ‘Mom’ for a while.

Being a creative soul, she returned to music after 5 years. The family moved to Broomfield in 1993 and Sandra continued her music career, becoming the timpanist for the Littleton Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and expanding her drumming experiences into the rock/blues genre, with a brief foray into Irish drumming and 2 summers as 'The King's Drummer' at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.

One day in 1997 she decided to seriously explore painting, beginning in acrylics.    Then she tried pastels and loved them.  She searched for instruction, and took classes at the Arvada Center in pastels, where she met Chuck Ceraso.   www.chuckceraso.com

 She studied at Chuck’s studio in Lafayette, CO for several years, learning how to work with the pastels and see color like the impressionist painters.  During this time she went to Ghost Ranch for a week long class through Chuck’s studio, and felt the magic of the place, as Georgia O’Keeffe had many years before.

Feeling  a need for more  information about art, Sandra attended classes at Front Range Community College.  During her time there she studied painting  and drawing with Lydia Brokaw, Homare Ikeda and Polly Chang, and took part in many student shows at the FRCC Gallery.

 Sandra exhibited at many locations in the Denver metro area during her years as a member of the Colorado Artists Guild including Boettcher Concert Hall, and  a solo show at the Buell Theater in Denver. She is currently teaching studio painting classes  in Arvada, Colorado.  Her art studio is located at the Dry Ice Factory, 3300 Walnut St., Suite #201,  Denver, CO 80205  in the RiNo art district.   www.dryicefactory.org

Sandra currently lives in Broomfield, Colorado with that handsome saxophone player and a bouncing Boston Terrier.  The boys grew up. One is in aviation and the other is a musician.