SANDFORD MALLARY BIRDSEY

Sandford Mallary Birdsey, iconic Key West artist whose paintings have been collected internationally and whose "plein air" art classes have been a familiar island sight for years, died peacefully at her home Monday night, Sept. 6, 2010, at the age of 85.

A celebration of Sandford"s life will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at her studio gallery, 328 Simonton St., after which a Key West Junkanoos parade will proceed to the historic seaport, where a memorial sail will depart aboard Sebago vessels. The journey out of Key West Bight was a regular one for Sandford, who frequently used the seaport for her scenic outdoor watercolors.

From the time she was in New York, she was a founding member of the American Society of Marine Artists, and her paintings are represented in private collections such as that of the late President John F. Kennedy and Pinilip Morris.

The artist, who lived above her "Sign of Sandford" studio and gallery at 328 Simonton St. for nearly 30 years, had been recognized as a signature member of the Florida Watercolor Society, and her annual one-night exhibits in various settings such as the Curry Mansion featured her paintings of Key West and locations around the world.

Reviews of her work have been published in Time Magazine, the New York Times, Art News, Arts Journal American, and Sea History. In Key West, Sandford was a member of the Key West Art Center, and also a contributing artist asked to give painting demonstrations at The Studios of Key West.

In addition to being exhibited elsewhere in Florida and Key West, Sandford's art has been exhibited in the New York Coliseum, the Twin Towers and the Whitney Museum in New York City. Her many one-man shows also have been presented in Georgia, Maine, Florida and New York.

An international traveler from childhood and an art student abroad, Sandford until recent times painted where she journeyed each year, from France and the eastern Mediterranean to Maine and New Mexico. But her heart and family as well as her creative eye were in Key West. Every November, Sandford taught a weeklong "Paint Key West" workshop, sharing her special artist's perspective on her beloved island, with its dogs, chickens, bicycles and vibrant tropical environment.

The island's strong, clear colors and quirky ways drew Sandford first in 1981, and then her son, Paul McGrail, a seagoing captain who launched his Sebago catamaran business with friend and partner Sean Rowley.

Sandford is known by that name to differentiate her from another artist named Birdsey in Bermuda, but she carved out her own professional career in New York before coming to Key West. Her journey to Key West saw the painter put away her Northern color palette to leap into bold, bright colors. She moved from the medium of oil painting more to watercolors and acrylics, also becoming known in the design industry for her unique, hand-painted canvas fabrics. Her fabrics were made into bags and furniture, window treatments and wall hangings.

Sanford was a native of Macon, Ga., and the daughter of mill owner John Sandford Birdsey and his wife, Helen Mallary Birdsey. The socially prominent family spent winters in Miami, where they also owned a large home on Brickell Avenue. Sandford's parents actually traveled to Key West and then took a ferry to Cuba while on their honeymoon, a fact very important to the adventurous artist, who was also a lifetime student of history and counted French and English nobles in her ancestry.

The artist actually led many different lives, from that of Southern belle who graced national magazine pages to Red Cross volunteer and ambulance driver in the World War II years in Macon to life as a young matron and mother in New York. In New York City, her career as a painter included formal studies at the Art Student's League and Parsons School of Design, following early studies at Wesleyan Conservatory in Macon, where Emil Holzhauer was one of her most influential teachers. She also studied at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts at Fountainebleau, France, and the School of Art, Positano, Italy. Her years as a painter in New York brought experience in abstract art, to which she returned at times in later years, even while teaching and painting with watercolors.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to HospiceCare of Southeast Florida, c/o Camp Coral, 818 White St., Key West, FL 33040.

Sandford Mallary Birdsey was predeceased by two sisters, Polly McGurk of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Martha Willingham of Macon, Ga.; and one brother, Buford Birdsey, also of Macon.

She is survived by six children, grandchildren, and many Key West "family" members and friends. Survivors include: daughter Sandford Dunston-McGrail (husband Craig) of Bellingham, Wash.; and grandson Ross Heiser of Seattle, Wash.; daughter Loren McGrail of Minnesota; and granddaughter Collette Cosner of Seattle; daughter Rollin McGrail of Wellington, Fla.; and grandchildren Philippe Beauchamp Roy and Brigitte Mallary Roy; son, Paul H. McGrail (wife Tami); and grandchildren Emily Catherine and Virginia Sandford McGrail of Key West; Jeffrey Edmond Downing and children of San Francisco, Calif.; and Karen Lois Cronin and children of Nashville, Tenn.