Alumni Spotlight: Amiel Sandland

Featured image: Self Made, 2023, oil on wood panel, 12×24″

Illustrator Amiel Sandland graduated from the Illustration diploma program in the summer of 2015. He currently works as a staff illustrator for Inhabit Education/Inhabit Media, creating work for children’s books, posters, animations, toys, and other projects. In his personal practice, Amiel explores his Friulian background through oil paintings and illustrations.

   

Bannock in a Hammock / Una Huna?: Ukpik Learns to Sew

In the beginning of his career, Amiel worked as a freelance illustrator for several months before joining Inhabit Education/Inhabit Media. 

“It’s been extremely rewarding work, and work I didn’t expect to be doing, as I struggled with children’s illustration at Seneca, admittedly. I was focused on comics as a specialization, and while it’s no longer my main focus, it does inform my work still to some extent.”

Bannock in a Hammock

Amiel maintains his own art practice by creating vibrant oil paintings. Although balancing his day job and personal art has been a challenge, he views the tactile nature of oil paint as a nice getaway from the tablet.

​Uphill, 2024, oil on muslin, antique frame, 39×19″

Amiel’s current body of work is inspired by his cultural heritage and a desire to understand it more deeply. As a third-generation Friulian who was raised in Southern Ontario, he wasn’t exposed to much Friulian history and culture.

“Mixing those pre-Catholicism folklore stories, with a very Roman Catholic Italian-Canadian upbringing, as well as filtering everything through my queer identity as a lens, has been my main focus for my painting practice for the past couple years, and I’m excited to continue to pursue it.”

 

The Night Battle, 2024, oil on wood panel, 15×30″

Images courtesy of Amiel Sandland

View more of Amiel’s work here:  https://ammys.weebly.com/