SEARCH
Sarah’s published and private work include film and digital photography, written and spoken word, and textile design and production. She uses techniques including wool picking, fiber carding and blending, yarn spinning, dyeing, wet and needle felting, sewing and stitching, as well as knitting and crochet. She has also created her own hand tools using metalworking techniques that include sweating and soldering.
Sarah’s training and education began with learning her grandmothers’ handicrafts and continued with tutelage from world-renowned craftspeople and fiber artists. She graduated from the University of Houston Honors College Center for Creative Work and earned the Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) grant program at UH and is finishing her Master’s in Agricultural Communications. Her undergraduate and graduate research focuses on sustainability through cottage textile industries, natural resources, and heritage breeds conservation. Her work is also informed by extensive volunteerism in local arts events and several years as volunteer at Burning Man Art Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada.
Sarah carries this knowledge and training into her work through focus on heritage and endangered breeds, native plants and natural dyes, and several published works that center around indigenous and local foods as well as native plants and sustainability.
Resume (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Style: Literary: Children, Documentary, Editor, Fiction, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Prose; Visual Art: Collage, Documentary, Environmental, Impressionistic, Landscape/Cityscape, Narrative/Historical, Nature/Wildlife, Photo Realistic, Site-Specific, Social Commentary
Artist Medium: Computer; Earth; Fiber/Fabric; Film; Photography
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
The purpose of this grant is specifically to enable the artist to rebuild her resource library, raw and processed textiles collection, and textile tools and studio that were destroyed in a house fire in spring of 2022.
The artist’s current vision involves the application of locally-sourced dyes, upcycled/recycled textiles, and native plants and heritage/endangered fibers to create a children’s book. This grant will allow the artist to pursue their current endeavor more efficiently and in a shorter timeframe than if their studio and resources must be replaced from personal funds.
The children’s (and adult-appropriate) book that the author/artist envisions will involve the retelling of a myth that involves concepts of sharing resources, environmental revitalization, and community building.
The artist intends to apply their skills and training in textile and fiber arts, photography, and poetry/literature in order to create the contents of this book. The artwork will be fit for public display and will involve interactive, educational elements designed to create community awareness of themes of conservation, heritage, culture, and community.