The granddaughter of a rodeo rider in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Sarah grew up in a small NJ suburb wishing to run away and join a roving carnival herself. Moving to LA with nothing but a bus pass and an armload of art, she found her opportunity at the funky Venice film studio of Roger Corman. Joining the art department of his latest low budget space adventure, she entered the energetically inventive arena of the entertainment world where she remained for many years designing and fabricating props and sets for films, television shows and even an iconoclastic puppet theater production.
Like set design, Sarah’s artworks are a form of storytelling. She pulls the subjects of her paintings from dreams where off-kilter subconscious logic superimposes figures, movements and time.
Her themes are often allegorical, revealing human shortcomings, our relationship with nature and universal challenges. Using color and symbols as narrative elements, her artworks employ a contemporary visual language while mining deep into ancestral memories and the collective unconscious.
Sarah has exhibited her artworks across the US, most recently appearing at Ghost Gallery in Seattle, and Sylvia White Gallery in Agoura. She has also exhibited at the Ontario Museum of History and Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, The Autry Museum, and Lancaster MOAH/Cedar where she won the Mayor’s Award for best painting.
Her work has been featured in film productions (Doogie Kamealoha M.D., Yes Day, Atypical, Grown-ish & Criminal Minds, among others) and publications including Shout Out LA, Unpsychology Magazine, Pomona Valley Review and Art Muzeo Magazine.
When she’s not painting, Sarah writes about art and artists in Medium.
The Fragility of Now
I live and work in an area known to fire crews as a Wildlife Urban Interface. In this ragged borderland I witness the impacts of development and the push-back of nature. Fire-blackened hills turn into fields of lupines. Tall trees my children once climbed are now drought-toppled, making homes for lizards and butterflies. Coyotes and rabbits, both tricksters, continue their daily outwitting dance.
Life is resilient, sometimes it’s insanely lucky, but so delicate: a porcelain teacup we all share. My paintings are colorful visual stories that reflect our shared ride – tangled and fragile, yet often magical and durable – sailing along in this crazy, beautiful, perilous teacup.
Thank you for visiting. Contact me here.
Photo credit: Tony Pinto @thetonypinto