![]() ![]() "Sandra’s journey from a business-minded little girl to a civic tour de force could probably only happen in Los Angeles County. In early 2022, she was appointed to the Arts Commission by Supervisor Janice Hahn (no relation). Today, she sits on several boards and community committees, including the Los Angeles Music and Art School, the Latino Company at LATC, and she is the Whittier of Chamber of Commerce recent past president. It was received the California Parks & Recreation Society Award. It has grown in both size and artist diversity ever year. Her charge was to create access to art resources through film, dance, textile, painting, and performing arts. It’s about building community and being successful at creating jobs and making a steady living."īack in 2015, the City of Santa Fe Springs hired Sandra as the Art Consultant for the SFS Art Fest. "I knew how to build an environment, how to create a space where people can connect, experience all the senses, and where everyone is welcome. "I took all my various experiences from art and the corporate world, then put them into the development of a restaurant," Sandra said. But she knew instinctively that she was meant to run her own business-so she found a space in Whitter and opened Crêpes & Grapes Café, building it into a longstanding business from scratch. More side hustles were on the horizon, and she worked as an installation artist and painter in local galleries. It was very successful for several years, but the essential oils made her second daughter nauseous. She also launched Wetstone, a side business, for which she made homemade soap and lotions, and held soap-carving workshops. ![]() She still managed to win several awards for her video film art.Īfter her daughter was born, Sandra sought stability and tried her hand in the corporate world as a creative director at a Fortune 500 company. Since there were very few computer artists experimenting with digital prints and animated short films at the time, centering her media in an accessible genre was difficult. She even played keyboards, briefly, in the East LA band, Los Illegals.Ĭollaborating with other artists as a multi-discipline artist herself became her specialty. She put together performances, exhibited at Self Help Graphics, Photography Center, LACMA, and collaborated with artists Patssi Valdez, Gronk, Harry Gamboa, and Willie Herrón from ASCO, the Eastside Chicano art collective, and many others. She never stopped making art and building her creative resource network. "I didn’t know who they were until I heard their music!"Īfter she sold her salon, Sandra took some computer graphic design courses, then started taking on new clients. "I was into the art and fashion disco dancing," Sandra said. She was a hairdresser for rockers Alice Cooper, Meatloaf, and Davey Johnstone, Elton John’s guitarist, and was never starstruck. ![]() Her career has taken many, many interesting turns since. Ever since, she’s had the talent and vision to create multi-artform events herself. She worked as a platform artist with product companies KMS Hair and TRI-K Industries-platform artists promote products and techniques at trades shows and events. There, she began to produce and create special fashion show events that featured local fashion designers, hairstylists, artists, and photographers. She also got into trouble a lot, and because her parents didn’t see or understand the vast opportunities in the field of arts for a young girl, they pushed her toward beauty college.Īt 17, Sandra got her cosmetology license, and because she had been working odd jobs and saving money for years, the teenage entrepreneur bought her own salon. As she got a little older, Sandra became interested in photography, film, and murals through after-school programs. But she always drew, and won many art contests at school and at fairs. She had challenges to navigate-including not speaking English when she first started school, needing glasses, and dealing with then-undiagnosed dyslexia. Sandra Hahn grew up in East LA and in Whittier, artistically inclined from the start. "As an Arts Commissioner today, I am so blown away by the resources that are available to so many communities-that I had no idea were available before…I’m trying to bring a window to these resources by visiting schools and inviting both students and teachers to participate in exhibits within the surrounding district." -Arts Commissioner Sandra Hahn
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