*** It's not often that Bermuda has two solo exhibitions by two women in two separate galleries running simultaneously -- a two-week run at the Masterworks Gallery on Front Street of Elizabeth-Ann Trott's work, and this show, which has also been set up and sponsored by the energetic Masterworks team.

Sandys and Trott might both be women sculptors but the similarities between these two artists end just about there. More on Trott's show in a later review.

When I first heard that Masterworks had managed to lure Sandys here I questioned their selection. After all Sandys is best known for her monumental sculptures which are normally placed in some vast expanse out in the open.

Bermuda, with its lack of space, doesn't quite seem appropriate for Sandys monoliths. And how would she get them through the City Hall doors? Alas, not surprisingly, this show doesn't feature any of Sandys' full scale sculptures, although we are treated to a number of down-sized models which give us more than an impression of Sandys' play on space, even if they fail to capture the sublime scale of her work.

But it is this play on space, transforming the negative into the positive that is central not only to many of Sandys' sculptures but also her numerous series of collages, which she not surprisingly describes as "yin-yang''.

Her study for `Millennium Circle' -- based on the ancient Stonehenge monument in the UK, best illustrates this point.

The solid slabs of rectangular rock, strong, tangible and roughly textured, are relegated to the background by what isn't there -- the gingerbread-man shaped figures which have been carved out of the rocks' centres.

Similarly, in her collages Sandys makes the void between forms an integral part of the composition. One is reminded of that popular psychologist picture puzzle of two profiled heads looking directly at each other. At one point the heads can be in the foreground, with an empty space behind them. Look again and the central space is transformed into the outline of a vase and the heads disappear.

In such works as `Tree of Life' the spaces between the trees' branches are transformed into birds while the shimmering water below becomes alive with fish.

Sandys' sense of fun, and her yin-yang ideas, are evident in other sculptures such as `Marriage Bed' and `Flirtation' -- you'll see what I mean if you get a chance to visit City Hall.

Sandys is definitely a prolific and eclectic artist working in different mediums and different dimensions. She is also a highly skilled draughtsman, a talent she shows off well in cartoon lithographs such as `Chartwell' and the `Adam and Eve' series.

In the helpful video presentation that is played during this show, Sandys explains how she would love to be commissioned to produce a permanent work for public display.

Whether or not Bermuda has the space for such a project is open to question but some lasting monument of this highly creative, talented and original artist's work would certainly be worthwhile.

Set in Stone: `Millennium Circle', one of many studies for larger scaler works currently on show at City Hall.