Aurora Sidney-Ando

 

When Aurora was three years old she used her braids to paint designs on the sun baked tiles at her grandparent’s home. Since then she has graduated to real brushes that wash her canvases with spirited colors and bold strokes. Her work ranges from fine detail with pen and ink to unrestrained expression of splattered paint. Sometimes she dabbles in graffiti art, but don’t tell anyone.

Aurora's web site

 

More of Aurora's Art


Aurora received her BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Colorado and puts it to use by illustrating children’s books, designing murals, and painting large canvases. Aurora’s inspiration comes from her love of fairy tales, the bold colors from her hometown in Mexico, and the simple elegance of her Japanese heritage. In an effort to maintain sanity while she is wading through her Ph.D. in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology with a certificate in Expressive Arts for Social Change. Aurora immerses herself in painting and shows her work around Anchorage. She is working with non-profit agencies to advocate for expanding the realm of visual arts within the Anchorage community in the spirit of promoting peace and social change. Projects include murals for Alaska Pacific University, Catholic Social Services, Anchorage’s Promise, North Star, and an evolving mural project open to everyone for messages of peace in a low income community in Anchorage, Alaska.
 
Aurora teaches psychology courses at Alaska Pacific University that emphasize self-discovery through the use of expressive arts. Further integrating her background in art and psychology, Aurora is also working with North Star Behavioral Health Center, Universal Health Services, Inc. on illustration projects that use children’s stories to educate kids and the adults in their lives on behavioral and mental disorders. She has illustrated two books with this same objective for Tapestry of Life, Child and Family Counseling. Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) was formed to develop healthy and prosperous communities and has asked Aurora to design a large public art sculpture in front of their main building. Aurora was selected for this project after successfully involving the community in a large scale mural project funded by grants from ACLT.
 
Every winter she rediscovers her love for ice skating and in the summertime makes the most of the sunlight by reading by the lake at midnight or going for a bike ride. Two of her favorite inventions are glitter and comic strips.