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Side Street News

Charles Van Sandwyk

Posted on October 01, 2016 by Nigel Hayes | 0 comments

Charles Noel van Sandwyk was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1966. In 1977 he emigrated with his family to Vancouver, Canada.

By the early 1980's he was selling his drawings and water colors in a style reminiscent of the old prints and paintings which hung in the family home. Van Sandwyk studied graphic design at the Capilano College art programme in North Vancouver.

Upon completion in 1986, the wanderlust of younger years sent him travelling to the South Pacific. He discovered the Fiji Islands, and fell in love with a remote island and its inhabitants.

He began to divide his time equally between Vancouver and Fiji, leasing land from the neighboring family and building for himself a simple home of grass thatch, in the traditional island style.

In recent years Charles has been spending more of his time in beautiful Vancouver where he has been creating more beautiful works including an audio CD where he reads passages from his books to giving a 'Ted Talk'.

Charles Van Sandwyk uses his wonderful, romantic imagination, artistic talents and calligraphy skills to create his beautiful, superior quality, hand-stitch books for you to treasure. His world is a gentle one in which to escape. He believes that art, indeed life, should be a rich visual feast, restrained only by good taste. Hand crafted in BC. Beautiful greetings cards are available for most of the illustrations.

Posted in animals, art, birthdays, books, calligraphy, charles van sandwyk, childrens stories, desert islands, gifts, greeting cards, magic, mr rabbit, stories

Charles Van Sandwyk’s Beautiful Books and Cards

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Sue Hayes | 0 comments

Charles Van Sandwyk’s Beautiful Books and Cards

Charles Noel van Sandwyk was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1966.

charles van sandwyk

In 1977 he emigrated with his family to Vancouver, Canada. By the early 1980s he was selling his drawings and watercolours in a style reminiscent of the old prints and paintings which hung in the family home.

Van Sandwyk studied graphic design at the Capilano College art programme in North Vancouver. Upon completion in 1986, the wanderlust of younger years sent him travelling to the South Pacific.

He discovered the Fiji Islands, and fell in love with a remote island and its inhabitants. He began to divide his time equally between Vancouver and Fiji, leasing land from the neighbouring family and building for himself a simple home of grass thatch, in the traditional island style.

Van Sandwyk settled into a pleasurable routine of winter seasons in Fiji filled with painting and writing, the results of which were brought back to Canada each summer and prepared for exhibition and publication each autumn. His watercolours, etchings and books are now collected across North America and in Europe.

The National Library of Canada has maintained archives on his work since 1986. Charles Van Sandwyk continues to divide his time between Vancouver and his beloved Fiji.