Sarah Goes to NYC

This is your brain on vacation.

As you may have read, I have a piece in the Society of Illustrators Annual 51. The show for the Book and Editorial categories has opened, and I'll be attending the awards night this Friday, February 6th, with friends and family.

Other things I plan to do in New York include: Walking a lot Eating a lot, for example, at Sakagura Attending the Society's weekly Jazz & Sketch night on Thursday Catching the end of the James Jean show Kindling at Johnathan LeVine Gallery And maybe getting a haircut

Ciao!

p.s. Thanks to Shanna at Blue 7 for helping me find something respectable to wear.

Dr. Sketchy's Starts in OKC Sunday 01.25.2009

Dr. Sketchy's has come to Oklahoma City! Marilyn Artus, co-founder of The Girlie Show, has organized a leg of the burlesque life-drawing group which will meet at AKA Gallery (Google Maps link) one Sunday a month. The first meeting will be this Sunday, January 25th, from 6 - 10 pm. You must be 21 to attend, and there is a $10 cover. Ilsa the Wolf will be our first model. And I am so there.

From the press release:

Dr. Sketchy's is a life drawing class meets cabaret experience. Started in Brooklyn by artist and burlesque girl Molly Crabapple, Dr. Sketchy’s now has 60+ branches around the globe, including Hollywood, London, Berlin, Edinburgh and NOW Oklahoma City. We will have gorgeous women, musclemen, freaks, and geeks. Bring a chair and your art supples, drink some booze. Tip your model and bartender, listen to some tunes and draw draw draw!!! We have great give-aways from local retailors like Blue 7. There will be contests made up on the spot! Visit http://www.drsketchy.com for more information.

Seeing Other People in OKC, 01.22.2009

Click image to see full-size.

Seeing Other People, featuring contemporary portraits by 12 Oklahoma artists, will open with a reception on Thursday, January 22 (5:30-7:30pm) in the Invited Artist Gallery (OKC Underground). Please join us!

Participating artists represent photographers, printmakers, painters, and mixed media artists. They are: MJ Alexander, Sarah Atlee, Josh Buss, Eleanor Davy Carmack, Sam Echols, Nick Hermes, Jackie Jones, JP Morrison, Jason Pawley, Liz Roth, Sara Scribner, and Alexis Winslow.

The artists in Seeing Other People have created artwork portraying friends, celebrities, and complete strangers using a wide array of styles and motives. The result is a broad, varied, and engaging exploration into this genre, and into the very different ways we all see other people.

The Invited Artist Gallery, located in The Underground, is made possible through a sponsorship by Devon Energy Corporation Entrances to the gallery are located at the corner of Robert S. Kerr Blvd and Robinson, and inside Leadership Square. The Invited Artists Gallery sits underneath the intersection of Robinson and Robert S. Kerr with entrances from all adjacent buildings. The Invited Artist Gallery is produced by Downtown Oklahoma Inc.

For more information on the Underground or Downtown OKC, Inc, please visit downtownokc.com or call 405-235-3500.

Pluparfait at Goodwin Law, OKC, 1.22.2009

I am having a solo show of paintings at the Goodwin Law Firm, 617 N. Broadway Ave in OKC's historic Automobile Alley. The show, titled Pluparfait, features my signature portraits of unusual characters, expressed with vibrant colors and detailed brush and pen strokes. Pluparfait will be on display at Goodwin Law through June 2009. Hours are by appointment; please call 232-2400.

A reception for Pluparfait will be held Thursday, January 22 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Visitors to my solo show can also go next door to 611 Creative and see works by local artists Ruth Ann Borum, David Bruehl, and Fernando Casillas.

I am also in a group show opening the same night just down the street. Seeing Other People, a show of contemporary portraiture by Oklahoma artists, is now on display in the OKC Underground Invited Artists Gallery. Read more about that here.

Pluparfait is a mostly made-up word that comes from two grammatical terms. Pluperfect is the past perfect tense. Its opposite is the future perfect tense. My made-up word alludes to my pertpetual attempt to make the "perfect" paintings I see in my head. The day after tomorrow is perpetually frozen in possibility, unattainable in the present. In working toward an ideal, I may achieve more than I thought possible.

Art 365 Named Best Tulsa Show in 2008

Brick Snow, acrylic on found panel, 2008. Click image to view full-size.

Holly Wall of the Urban Tulsa Weekly has named Art 365 the best gallery show in Tulsa this year. Thanks, everybody!

Best Art Exhibitions of the Year: Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's "Art 365," exhibited simultaneously at Liggett Studios and at the University of Tulsa's Alexandre Hogue Gallery. Six projects by Oklahoma artists were chosen to each receive a $10,000 honorarium and a year of curatorial guidance, and the resulting exhibits were displayed in Tulsa and in Oklahoma City. We definitely think more artists should be given opportunities like this one. The resulting work was quite spectacular.

My series Normal, OK was part of the Art 365 exhibit. The show opened last March in Oklahoma City and is about to come down from its last venue in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I feel so lucky and honored to have been a part of this great opportunity. I look forward to seeing the next one!