Art advisor and curator
Sandra Higgins has spent many years immersed in the art world. Her journey began in her hometown of Chicago as an artist and art tutor before evolving into roles as an art administrator, curator, and gallery owner of Sandra Higgins Fine Arts in Mayfair, London. From early encounters with brushes and colour as a child to her career as an art curator in London and Bath, Sandra’s path reflects a rich narrative of artistic engagement and exploration.
Sandra holds advanced degrees in Printmaking and Art History from Rosary College, Chicago and University of Chicago, with a focus on contemporary art. She has a deep personal affinity for abstract modernism, surrealist imagery, Latin American art, and black-and-white reportage photography. Her impressive collection – including African masks purchased in Paris, indigenous textiles, and a ‘ready-mades’ sculpture paying homage to Marcel Duchamp – is displayed in her apartment on Great Pulteney Street. Here, you’ll also find a pochoir print by French artist Sonia Delaunay, a photograph of novelist and art collector Gertrude Stein, and other treasures, all reflecting Sandra’s lifelong passion for collecting. As Sandra aptly puts it, “The pieces around me are like a history of my life.”
Upon arriving in London from the US in the early 1980s, Sandra worked at the Dartington Institute in Devon and later at the Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and the Arts, where she developed a programme called Art Adventures, aimed at teaching young people aged seven to 16. She also led school art sessions, often themed around the painting style of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse and Claes Oldenburg. “I remember the parents were really upset after the Pollock session because all the boys’ shoes were covered with paint!” Sandra recalls.
Fluent in Spanish, Sandra spent a period in Colombia, curating indigenous art and travelling extensively across South America, the US, Europe, and the Middle East. She also worked as an art advisor to the D&D London division of Conran, sourcing original artworks for interior designs. All this has allowed Sandra to cultivate a vast network of galleries, museums, artists and collectors, becoming highly skilled at creating meaningful connections between them.
Sandra relocated to Bath just before the pandemic in the spring of 2020, where her property boasted an expansive garden with sweeping woodland views. “To keep my sanity, I invited artists to visit and draw inspiration from the landscape. They produced work for an exhibition we called Shades of Green.” Sandra now represents various local artists in Bath, as well as those in London, Europe and South America, with regular exhibitions held at a gallery in Milsom Place and artwork viewings by appointment at The Empire in Grand Parade, Bath.
Sandra’s philosophy on art collecting is straightforward: “I believe in buying what you truly like. I collect pieces not because they’re trendy or valuable, but because I connect with them personally. While I may be an advisor, you don’t have to buy what I suggest – purchase something that brings you joy.”
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Main photograph by Joe Short, an award-winning photographer based in Bath. joeshort.com