Sarah Amos
years with Cynthia-Reeves: 20
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
HIGHLIGHTS
Philadelphia Art Museum, Acquisition, 2016
Hood Art Museum, Dartmouth College, Acquisition, 2015
Joan Mitchell Award Winner, 2014
Master Printmaker, Vermont Studio Art Center, Johnson, VT, 10 Years
Santa Fe Institute, Residency, 2006
Sarah’s attraction to printmaking lies less in its ability to make multiple editions of a completed image than in the specific aesthetic effects different methods can produce. Her strong preference for the textural variety and subtle overlays of imagery to produce unique works prevails…. The hybridity of Amos’s art is integral to her creative expression. Culling from the aesthetic characteristics of printmaking, painting, drawing, collage, embroidery, tapestry, and other media, she successfully grapples with the complexities of the constructs of “landscape” and the natural world in her boldly ambitious and delightfully engaging compositions. –Sarah Amos: Complex Geometries, Shelley R. Langdale, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art, June 2015
Ambitious and playful are words that come to mind when we think of Sarah Amos’s new work. These are sassy and brash visual statements made all the better because they are so substantial, so brimming with intention – a bold narrative that insists you look, and look again. In this new series, the artist is working with collograph printing, but on felt. Amos is taking her two-dimensional works on paper and making them dimensional: they literally pop off the wall. This adventuresome spirit is why she was awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Grant in 2013 that launched her latest endeavor in printmaking.
Amos’ interest in using felt, linen, canvas, hemp and jute came from her desire to create many printed elements placed together on one surface, while maintaining the flexibility to manipulate the patterns until she was ready to commit to the final image. These fibrous fabrics mimic paper in weight, size, and readiness to accept a variety of printmaking techniques. For the two newest pieces, Amos works within a more intimate scale of work, which invite the views to encounter the surfaces at close range, foregrounding her extensive use of hand embroidery.