Artist Statement
I am a multidisciplinary artist and sewist whose work explores the intersection of fine art and craft. With a background in interior design, I bring a unique perspective to fiber arts, collage, and mixed media. My creative practice spans embroidery, weaving, painting, mural work, along with the creation of handmade housewares and fashion pieces. I work to create vibrant, layered, tactile pieces that speak to memory, identity, and our environment.
My work is rooted in a love of color, movement, texture and shape. A deep appreciation for vintage aesthetics and unique design informs my approach. I have a deep love for horticulture and food and am heavily influenced by my environment. My subjects are almost always related to nature. For example, I often incorporate plants, flowers, animals, bugs and birds in one way or another. A heavy use of circles is also obvious in my work.
I focus on using existing materials in my creative process. Reusing existing materials invites viewers to reflect on their experiences and memories with common objects and see them in a new way. This practice also informs my efforts to minimize the impact I am making on the environment, especially as it applies to fiber arts and the fashion industry. Whether I am stitching, painting, or piecing together fabric, I use familiar techniques, tools and subjects in unexpected ways to express emotions, form connections and bring joy. My hope is that my work serves to show and preserve how traditional art and craft are influenced by each other and the endless ways they can merge.
Artist Bio
Sandra Kirpalani (aka jayestar) was born and in Omaha, NE and grew up in a very close family with a single mom, her sister and her brother. Sandra showed a love for all things creative and a strong sense of personal style at an early age. Her mother worked hard to support and encourage her interests and talents, enrolling the kids in private art lessons and even becoming her Brownie troop leader, where Sandra first learned to weave.
Her upbringing in a single parent home fostered a strong sense of resourcefulness and a talent for reimagining existing materials. These skills translated into a keen eye for thrifting and a passion for vintage aesthetics. Sandra’s practice focuses on using exiting materials as much as possible. Beginning in 2025, she adopted a new, sustainable practice: collecting all the small, unusable scraps from her annual work to be repurposed into new materials and art.
Sandra decided first on a career in Interior Design, and during her time in college, her mother happily allowed her house to become the experimental template for every project. After a long and enjoyable career in Design, Sandra decided to pivot and go back to school to study culinary arts and horticulture. During these years, Sandra also worked on her art practice as a side hustle and worked from a studio at Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha, NE.
After meeting her husband, Sandra moved to Chattanooga, TN and and then to Des Moines, IA. She currently divides her time between Des Moines, IA and Whitefish, MT. Each of these places, and everywhere she travels, has influence on her work. Her former career paths contribute to and guide her aesthetic today. Sandra’s work has been featured in multiple juried exhibitions, in multiple states.
Outside of the studio, Sandra has a vintage housewares resale shop on Etsy under the name “Sandrilene Designs”. She also enjoys working with her husband on renovating their MCM California Ranch, gardening, cooking, and travel.
Sandrilene Designs is also the name of her public studio, where people can experience all of her different work in one space. Her studio is located at Mainframe Studios, #351, 900 Keosauqua Way, Des Moines, IA 50309.
Open studios are held on the first Friday of every month from
5 -8pm.
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