T H E C O M P A N Y - S A N D P I P E R P R O D U C T I O N S
I acknowledges the Noongar people of the Bibbulmun nation as the traditional custodians of the land and waters on which I live and work. I pay my respect to Elders past and present and honour all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of this nation. I am proud to work with people from all cultures, but do so on the understanding of First Nations first.
Sandpiper Productions is Sandy McKendrick's independent project-based company that creates collaborative performances with artists through hybrid art forms. Sandpiper also directs national arts-based projects.
Sandy is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, puppeteer, designer living on the coast in Walyalup/Fremantle. She has spent most of her artistic life developing and collaborating on large scale community arts projects and performances both urban and regional. A large body of work has focused on both critical environmental and cultural issues world-wide. She has had the good fortune to reside in many other countries working alongside creative souls of all ages. Sandy thrives on collaborative work across many art forms and is happiest when submerged in water, playing with children, weaving, sketching, listening to music, dancing, photographing her environment, camping, sharing food, or exploring the Australian land and seascape. She cannot exist without art and does whatever is possible to use her skills to develop a healthier, fairer, safer, loving and creative life within her professional capacity.
Sandy works regionally in Australia and internationally with remote communities that have limited artistic or theatrical opportunities.
Her work has been included in many Australian festivals include: Christmas Island Arts, Fremantle, Port Hedland, Karratha, Exmouth, Onslow, , Katherine Festival and Fringe, Darwin in the Northern Territory and Shinju Matsuri - Pearling Festival Broome in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia to name a few. For these she has performed, designed, co-ordinated and constructed over 30 years. Sandpiper's performances have also toured nationally to museums and conferences.
Sandy has worked as designer and artist for Perth Festival on the creation of installations and site-specific exhibitions that involve communities of Western Australia. She has also performed with four international companies during the festival.
Sandy is a photographer, using animation, photography and video in many projects. She has exhibited individually and collaboratively for Perth International Arts Festival, Cocos and Christmas Island and France for the UNIMA World Puppet festival.
Also extensively in Walyalup Fremantle: For Wild Fremantle she presented OBSERVING STONE and HELD in STONE-focussing on pre-colonial animal life and its demise in Fremantle WA.
The following are examples of Sandpiper's performances and arts projects:
WILFRED GORDON MCDONALD PARTRIDGE- Sandy designed and created the puppets, props and set design for Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.
COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK - Sandy has been lead artist on many Place Names projects in Walyalup/Fremantle, Korijekup/Harvey, and Melville. Community-led, cultural mapping initiatives focused on decoding, preserving, and sharing the ancient meanings behind Indigenous and colonial geographical names
Six Seasons Gathering Yorgas was 12 month long project creating artworks that are visual representations of the cultural resources that sustained First Nations communities for generations, creating a body of work that informs, educates, and inspires future generations to appreciate the rich traditions of the land. They resulting 6 x 3metre artworks are a poignant reminder of how climate change is affecting these natural cycles.
PEARL the GUERRILLA GRANNY is a delightfully mischievous roving character often found astride a mobility scooter. Challenging the status-quo on ageing Pearl can adapt and improvise with any setting or theme offered her, ebbing and flowing between down-right mischievousness to absolute ameliorating charm. Pearl is a refreshing and exciting compere or host for festivals or public or corporate events, who can also be engaged as a delightful roving performer.
Sandy has worked with the Indian Ocean Territories of Christmas and Cocos Keeling Island over many years where body of work was developed with the communities ART Adrift and ART AFLOAT using beach drift materials [wood, rubber, ropes, floats and other flotsam] to create vessels and sculptures that were moored off both islands during their exhibition. 60 of these works were shipped to Fremantle and floated in the Fishing Boat Harbour as the opening event for Fremantle Festival.
The companies performances TURTLE AND THE TRADEWINDS, CRY OF THE SEADRAGON, DJAPUS JOURNEY and TO DANCE WITH FIRE have all toured nationally and internationally. Sandy has developed and directed performances within Australia, South Korea, France, South Africa , Zambia, Malawi and Timor Leste.
She has designed and constructed costumes, sets and puppets for theatre companies that include Barking Gecko, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Deckchair, Theatre Kimberley, SEKA [Zambia], Tutbat [Sth Korea], Bizurcus and for her own company’s productions.
Floating thong sculpture - Cocos Keeling Island.Photographer Eva Boogaard