Artist Profile: Sarah Ann Smith

Sarah Ann Smith
Hope, Maine
sarahannsmith.com
 
1. How do you describe yourself?  Artist. Author. Quilter. Teacher. Mother. Wife.

2. What is your creative process?  Sometimes inspiration strikes in an instant, other times it takes a while for the image to become clear in my head.  Then I begin to work.  The challenge is either finding time to make all of them, or sorting the best from the others and working on just the best of what rattles around inside my brain.

3. Describe your studio space.  Large, light despite being in the basement.  But who knew that 20 feet of closet/storage isn’t enough? It’s set up in zones: standard machine, mid-arm sit down machine, cutting table, ironing, seating, storage (behind the design walls that serve as closet doors).  

4. What's your signature style? How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  Really, my style—representational with lots of quilting and color--found me.  And my friends recognized a piece as distinctively “Sarah” long before I did!  I have no idea how long it took.

5. Are there artistic endeavors you are yet to do?  Yes…photography and messing around in my sketchbook support my art quilting.  

6. Do you keep a sketchbook and/or journal?  Yes with a caveat:  I found that having my “to do list” notebook and a separate sketchbook wasn't working for me. Wherever I was, I wanted the other one.  So I put both into one journal and sometimes it is “to do” lists, sometimes doodles, sometimes actual sketching (though not as often as I would like).

7. Being published is important to artists, so do you have any instructional dvd's, author of books, YouTube channel, have a website with other artists for collaborative projects?  Yes!  ThreadWork Unraveled is a basic reference on how to use thread on a sewing machine.  DVD:  Art Quilt Design from Photo to Threadwork, with Fabric Collage and Machine Quilting, a Quilting Arts Workshop. And many articles published including in Machine Quilting Unlimited and Quilting Arts and included in many, many books (lucky me!).

8. Do you teach? Teaching for Q.U.E.S.T. quilt guild in Little Rock Arkansas October 10-11, 2016 and a very busy schedule with seven classes/events at International Quilt Festival Houston 2016, from Monday through Saturday.

9. Having your work in juried, invitationals, and solo shows is a great way to get your name out there. Where can people see your work?  Solo show, the Picker Room, Camden Public Library, Camden, Maine, September 1-30, 2016; Whistler House Museum of Art, Lasting Impressions exhibit, Lowell, Mass:  “Bijagos Warrior” and “Conversations 1” on exhibit through late September; SAQA’s Food for Thought exhibit, “Insalata”:  Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum in Temple, Texas - January 31, 2017 through April 1, 2017; Milkweed No. 1, A World of Beauty, IQF Houston, October/November 2016; a matter of time textiles exhibit, “Milkweed No. 2”:    Nautilus Art Centre, Port Lincoln, South Australia: 26 September – 21 October 2016, Craft & Quilt Fair, Adelaide: 3-6 November 2016. Curator floor talk at 12.30pm on Thursday, 3 November only, Millicent Gallery, Millicent, South Australia: 1 -31 December 2016, Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford, New South Wales, Australia 18 February -23 March 2017.  Opening at 6.30pm on Friday, 17 February 2017, Inspired by the national Parks exhibit, “Acadia:  Snowy Owl” touring as follows: Jul. 26 - Sept. 10, 2016: Virginia Quilt Museum (Harrisonburg, VA), Sept. 21 - Oct. 5, 2016: Lake Metroparks Farmpark (Kirtland, OH) Oct. 19-22, 2016, Machine Quilter's Exposition (Springfield, IL); Early Jan., 2017:  Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show (Oklahoma City, OK),  Jan. 22 - Feb. 25, 2017, The Barns of Rose Hill (Berryville, VA), March 1 - 3, 2017: Indiana Heritage Quilt Show (Bloomington, IN); “Mr. Wiggles Does the Circle Dance” in the Dare to Dance exhibit, also at various locations, please see http://www.marywkerr.com/daretodance.html.  

10. How many years have you had your work in d@8 exhibits, or is this your first time?  I am astounded and thrilled that this is my seventh consecutive d@8 exhibit; I have been part of all but the first exhibit.

Do you have a special memory about Yvonne Porcella that you would like to share with us?  Two years ago at the d@8 Friday night supper in  Houston, I found myself across the table from Yvonne and got to spend the entire evening chatting with her!   What an indomitable woman!