Sandra Alanko

Sandy Alanko has a master’s degree in art, studied Renaissance art at a school in Florence, Italy and taught art in public and private schools for over 30 years. She has also taught at the Academy Art Museum, and several classes through the St. Michaels Art League and currently teaches and mentors watercolorists in her Tilghman Island studio.

Sandy paints primarily in watercolor and oil in a contemporary realism style and has won numerous awards in local, regional and national shows. These include the Water­fowl Festival, Plein Air Easton- Local Color, shows sponsored by the St. Michaels Art League, the Working Artists Forum and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

She is an avid conservationist and for twenty-two years, she and her husband managed a Smithsonian research station located on the coral barrier reef of Belize. They also assisted scientists studying rainforest ecology at the Smithsonian Research Station in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. She has painted large murals at both of these facilities. At home, her property is a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Sandy is a kayaker, birder and camper who loves to be in wild, natural areas. She hopes that her artwork inspires people to learn about, cherish and protect our precious wild heritage.