Charles van Sandwyk was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1966. In 1977, he emigrated with his family to Vancouver, Canada, where he studied graphic design at the Capilano College art program in North Vancouver. By the early 1980s, he was selling his drawings and watercolors in a style reminiscent of the old prints and paintings which hung in the family home. Upon graduating in 1986, the wanderlust of younger years sent him traveling to the South Pacific. He discovered the Fiji Islands, and fell in love with a remote island and its inhabitants. In that same year, van Sandwyk won an Alcan award for his limited edition book A Selection of Neighbourly Birds, illustrated with etchings printed on an antique intaglio press. This first attempt at publishing prompted a passionate venture into the world of handmade and private press books and prints. His watercolors, 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, and in 1992 purchased the original drawings and paintings for his children's book The Parade to Paradise. The book Wee Folk won Juror's Choice award at the 1994 Seattle Book Fair, and also 3rd prize at the Alcuin Awards '95 for limited editions. He began to divide his time equally between Vancouver and Fiji ... and 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.. The fruits of these labors, his watercolors, etchings and books, are now collected across North America and in Europe. The National Library of Canada has maintained archives on his works since 1986, and in 1992 purchased the original drawings and paintings for his children's book The Parade to Paradise. Charles continues to divide his time between Vancouver and Fiji. (http://www.cvsfinearts.com/pages/CVSartist.htm) undefined

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