Bio

Sandra Bloodworth is a visual artist with a career that spans decades, exploring themes of portraiture, memory, and the human experience. Known for her thoughtful and emotionally resonant work, Bloodworth has created a diverse body of art that reflects her observations of the world around her.

Throughout her career, Bloodworth has exhibited widely across New York, New Jersey, and the Southern United States. Her art has taken many forms, from traditional portraits to larger-scale, site-specific works. While her work often reflects on individual lives and stories, it also engages with broader societal themes, capturing moments of cultural and personal significance.

In 2020, when the MTA sought a way to honor employees lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloodworth conceived and designed TRAVELS FAR in her studio, offering a moving tribute to those individuals. The memorial, which featured portraits based on family-contributed photographs, was realized with the support of a team she led and displayed across digital screens in subway stations and Moynihan Train Hall, providing a poignant tribute.

Bloodworth’s career at MTA Arts & Design spanned 36 years, during which time she contributed to numerous initiatives that brought art into public spaces. While her work there is an important chapter of her journey, it is her ongoing artistic practice that has been central to her development and recognition as a visual artist.

In recognition of her significant contributions, Bloodworth has received numerous honors, including the 2024 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal for her visionary impact. Other awards include the Fund for the City of New York’s Sloan Public Service Award (2005), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) George S. Lewis Award (2015), and the Artist’s Fellowship Gary Melchers Medal (2015).

Bloodworth is also a published author. She co-authored Contemporary Art Underground (2024) with Cheryl Hageman, published by the Monacelli Press, and is the co-author of New York’s Underground Art Museum (2014) and Along the Way (2007), with William Ayres.

Sandra Bloodworth

Visual artist engaged with environment, memory, and public space.

PUBLIC ART PROJECTS

2021 Travels Far — Artist: Sandra Bloodworth
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, NY
Digital memorial honoring MTA employees lost to COVID-19. Executed with MTA Arts & Design and New York City Transit in collaboration with the families of employees who shared photographs and information about their loved ones. Portraits created from photographs provided by the families appeared in 107 subway stations and Grand Central Terminal and Moynihan Train Hall, providing a place across the city where employees and families could acknowledge the loss and mourn their colleagues during the pandemic. https://www.mta.info/covid-memorial

2002 Link — Artist: Sandra Bloodworth
Unrealized Artwork for the Cortlandt Street Station, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, NY
Artwork proposal developed at the request of the Executive Director of the MTA following the destruction of the World Trade Center. Link was a concept for the Cortlandt Street subway station following the events of September 11, 2001. The proposal centered on what was lost that day—the relationships between people: mother, father, son, daughter, friend, partner, colleague, and many others. The relationships were to be cast as small bronze bas-relief elements inset into the tiled platform wall. Each six-inch square bronze form would have a softly rounded sculptural surface, evoking warmth and presence, installed along the platform. The original proposal is in the collection of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. https://collection.911memorial.org/Detail/objects/120027

2000 For Want of a Nail — Artist Team: Sandra Bloodworth, Kendal Henry, Mona Chen
81 St–Museum of Natural History Subway Station, New York, NY
Permanent public artwork executed with the Arts for Transit Collaborative. Glass mosaic, glass tile, ceramic tile, granite, and bronze relief are combined to highlight the ten scientific disciplines represented in the American Museum of Natural History. https://www.mta.info/agency/arts-design/collection/for-want-of-a-nail

1990 South Sails — Artist: Sandra Bloodworth
South Ferry Subway Station (former station), New York, NY
Permanent site-specific public artwork inspired by the maritime history of New York Harbor and the sloops that historically crossed its waters. Ceramic tile panels evoke wind-driven movement across the harbor. The work is visible today through tours of the former station. https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork_show?35

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026 Out of the Blue, Pangea, New York, NY
2025 Gore Art Gallery, Mississippi College, Clinton, MS
2019 Garden Party, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2016 Intimate Feasts, William Ris East Gallery, Jamesport, NY
2014 Six in the City, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2012 Urban Principals, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2011 At Last, Spring, William Ris Gallery, Stone Harbor, NJ
2011 Intimate Feasts, Cape May Winery, Cape May, NJ
2009 Intimate Feasts, William Ris Gallery, Stone Harbor, NJ
2009 Intimate Feasts, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, NY
2008 Intimate Feasts, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2007 Subway Stories: Tales from the Subway, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2007 Festa della Vita, Blue Streak Wine & Spirits Gallery, Long Island City, NY
1992 Subway Stories, New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1991 In Person, Dance Theater Workshop Gallery, New York, NY
1990 Reverence, Cloister Gallery, Riverside Church, New York, NY
1988 Beth Abraham Satellite Gallery, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
1987 North by South, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014 Tableau, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ
2013 Feast of the Eye: The Art of Food, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
2010 Four Perspectives, SOMA New Art Gallery, Cape May, NJ
2008 Art Now Fair (SOMA New Art Gallery), Miami Beach, FL
2008 Three Square Women and a Monochromatic Man, The Art Trust, West Chester, PA
2007 Still Life, Nicholas Rizzo Fine Art, Chatham, NJ
2001 Organization of Independent Artists Exhibition, New York Mercantile Exchange, New York, NY
1991 PS 122 Gallery (Paint Space 122), New York, NY
1987 Oxford Influences (Invitational), University of Mississippi Fine Art Gallery, Oxford, MS
1987 Artists from Studio in a School, Artist Space, New York, NY
1985 Selected Works, Radius Gallery, New York, NY
1984 United States Fine Art Competition, State Capitol Building, Tallahassee, FL
1983 The Competitive of Mississippi, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
1982 Ephebi: Art for the 21st Century, Washington, DC
1981 People, Figures and Faces, First Women’s Bank, New York, NY
1980 Artworks 13, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

AWARDS

2024 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, Municipal Art Society, New York, NY
2015 George S. Lewis Award, American Institute of Architects (AIA), New York, N
2015 Gari Melchers Award, Artists Fellowship, New York, NY

2005 Sloan Public Service Award, Fund for the City of New York, New York, NY

PUBLICATIONS

Sandra Bloodworth and William Ayres. Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit Art. New York: The Monacelli Press, 2006.

Sandra Bloodworth and William Ayres. New York’s Underground Art Museum: MTA Arts & Design. New York: The Monacelli Press, 2014.

Sandra Bloodworth and Cheryl Hageman. Contemporary Art Underground: MTA Arts & Design New York. New York: The Monacelli Press, 2023.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1988–2024 MTA Arts & Design, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, NY
Joined the program in 1988 and served as Director from 1996–2024. Led the public art program for New York’s transit and rail system, commissioning and overseeing more than 375 permanent artworks integrated into stations across the network.

TEACHING

2000–2001 Adjunct Professor, Department of Art and Art Professions
New York University, New York, NY

1978–1980 Teaching Fellow, Life Drawing
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

1975–1977 Adjunct Instructor, Painting
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

1973–1975 Instructor, Ceramics and Painting
Jefferson Davis State Junior College, Brewton, AL

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Lifetime Member (Medalist), Artists Fellowship, Inc.
Association of Professional Art Advisors (APAA)

EDUCATION

MFA, Painting — Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
MA, Art Education — University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
BS, Art Education — Mississippi College, Clinton, MS