SEARCH
Sarah Joy Lewis
For a long time, Sarah Joy considered herself a contemporary nomad — but after 20 years, she’s happy to be living back in her hometown, San Antonio. Texas will always be home.
Travel is in large part responsible for Sarah Joy’s vocation in art. A visit to Paris and the Louvre when she was sixteen rekindled a serious interest in art, and she began to study art history. That pursuit led to taking studio classes, and Sarah Joy rediscovered her devotion to and need for making art.
Travel has always played an important role in her life and art –- at the age of nine, she first traveled overseas to Brisbane, Australia. Since then, she has spent time on six continents, and enjoys road-tripping across the continental US. The opportunity to explore new places and enjoy regional food, drink, and culture remains an irresistible beacon. Of course, every trip requires at least one visit to the local art museums! And every new experience and culture influences her art — subtly or overtly.
Today, Sarah Joy’s work focuses on portraits, nudes, and still lifes. She paints in acrylic, with embellishments of embroidery, gold leaf, screen print, and stenciling.
Resume (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Visual Arts: Mixed Media Artist, Painter, Textiles
Artist Style: Visual Art: Abstract, Contemporary, Figurative, Focus on Color/Light/Movement, Landscape/Cityscape, Nature/Wildlife, Portraiture
Artist Medium: Acrylic; Fiber/Fabric; Gold Leaf
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
My works primarily fall into two broad categories: Landscapes/Cityscapes, and Portraiture.
On Landscapes/Cityscapes: I'm interested in exploring the natural and man-made shapes and textures that surround us, both at home and when traveling. This may be on a micro scale, such as seedlings on the forest floor in spring, or on a much larger scale, such as the Golden Gate Bridge. These works are primarily embroideries and embroidered paintings. The intimacy of hand-stitching helps to bring the vastness of our environment to a more human scale.
On Portraiture: I create paintings that capture a clearly recognizable likeness of the subject, re-imagined in vivid rich color. Many of my paintings incorporate pattern and/or text, adding visual depth to the piece. The paintings are created using layers of sheer tinted acrylic glazes, carefully built up to create delicate, luminous, and vibrant color. It’s important to me that a color is just as lush whether you stand two inches or 20 feet from a canvas.
Portraits are more than a mere physical representation of the person. A portrait reflects the subject’s personality as the artist sees him or her, and may be influenced by how the sitter wants to be perceived. It is imbued with a sense of who the artist wants that person to be, in the context of the specific painting. Once the portrait is complete, that specific moment in the subject’s life is once again interpreted by viewers, and becomes a universal experience.
