Kandy studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Texas Tech University. She has a lifelong interest in nature which she combines with her passion for Medieval Illumination and Renaissance metalpoint drawing. She was awarded an Artist’s Grant from the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) for her project researching the materials and techniques of manuscript painting. She also had the opportunity to further her studies on this subject with renowned manuscript conservator Cheryl Porter at Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded the Don and Virginia Eckelberry Fellowship to continue her study of birds in medieval manuscripts, with a focus on Falconry. Kandy recently received the Julius I. Brown Award from the ASBA for her project Poetry in Silver: The Language of Flowers in the Works of Emily Dickinson. She is completing a series of twelve metalpoint drawings based on Dickinson’s herbarium and poetry as part of that Grant.
Kandy has exhibited her art in local and national juried shows where she has received many awards. Her works are included in private and public collections including Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, Washington, DC, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, PA, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and the National Museum of Natural History, Botany Department, Washington, DC. A number of her Illuminations were selected for inclusion in the Hunt’s 13th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration in 2010, and their “What We Collect” show in 2013. Several of her butterfly paintings were exhibited in a show of Mid-Atlantic native plants at the United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC, in 2014. The butterfly and moth paintings are included in the book, “American Botanical Paintings, Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic” (available through online and local bookstores). One of her goldpoint drawings will be on display in the Worldwide Botanical Art show beginning in May 2018 at the United States Botanic Garden, Washington DC. The show travels to The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum, Wausau, WI, the St. Louis Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MI, and the Botanical Research Institute, Ft. Worth, TX beginning in 2019. Her Illuminated Alphabet will be part of the show Alphabetum Botanicum, opening in September of 2018 at the Hunt Institute, and traveling to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum in 2019.
Kandy has produced entomological illustrations for a variety of scientific publications including monographs on Lymantriidae (Gypsy moths), and Costa Rican Limacodidae (Slug moths), along with a series of mollusk stomachs for a malacologist. She taught courses in Botanical Illumination and other nature related topics at many regional nature centers in addition to the Brookside Gardens School of Botanical Art & Illustration, and the Smithsonian Associates programs.