Artist Profile: Sarah Ann Smith

Sarah Ann Smith
Maine
www.sarahannsmith.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?   I was thrilled (as you may have noticed by the big cheer when it was announced at dinner in Houston!).

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it? It’s big, near the ironing area, and well-lit.  It’s an old IKEA drop-leaf dining table for which I built a rolling platform.  I love that I remember when we ate on it, see the cat-claw scratches.

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on? This piece is more from my imagination and less from a true image: the words inspired me first.

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? Often, I have to wait weeks and even months before I can work on a piece in actual cloth, dye and thread.  That gives me a lot of time to edit and revise in my head, so I rarely have design block the way most people do.  But when something doesn’t work, I just let it sit on the design wall until I figure out what to do.

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time? I’m usually so busy, that I can’t really cope with more than one or two things going at once.  I prefer to finish, tidy so that I can once again function and find the table tops, and start fresh.

6. What do you hope people take away from your work? Inspiration at the world around us, a sense of wonder, and knowing that we all were beginners once, that with work you can achieve more than you ever thought you could.

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? The best part is creating the design, brainstorming for ideas, and quilting.  The least favorite parts are definitely basting and picking out stitches!

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? SAQA, IQA, AQS

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why? Preferred palette:  Everything!   I tend to prefer clear tones that I think of as Caribbean colors, but they sing best when they have muted and darks to let them shine.  So I need and use just about everything, except maybe puce and dingy stuff.

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey?
Realizing that I needed to stop taking quilt classes and start taking ART classes.
Getting in to IQA Houston for the first time, and getting published.
Being juried in to this exhibit every year I have tried.
Receiving an award from Ricky Tims for Design and Composition, back when I was really not sure if I was doing OK on the art side of things.
Being juried in to the Whistler Museum of Art exhibit this year and having one of my two pieces selected for the promotional materials.
It’s been an amazing ride, and hope there is a lot more to come!