BIO / CV


Sarah Hewitt lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she creates sculptures using textile techniques and patinated with waxes, tars and cement. Sarah has achieved notoriety in many mediums having taught many of them. Her work is exhibited around the country, as well as published in Surface Design Journal, Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot, Santa Fe Trends and Fiberarts. Recently she was honored by being named one of the top 150 artists in New Mexico by Diane Karp of the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Santa Fean.


presentations/representations…the story…choices full of grace and mistakes
the good, the bad and damn ugly…

Many of us are raised with our families' or societies' ideals for us instead of our own. Our parents/teachers/spouses become mirrors for us to see our reflection in – but sometimes that reflection is closer to a fun-house mirror than reality.

Do our appearances really tell the truth about ourselves? Do our work, life and families really illustrate who we as individuals are? Is there another story that we are living and not our own?

I want to write my own story – my own good, bad and damn ugly story. Fear nearly cripples me when I think of who I might really be and not who I've imagined or acted for so many years. But isn't the ultimate freedom when you acknowledge your true self and flaunt it?

In my work there is no hesitation or need for me to mask my thoughts, memories or desires. I'm honest at that point with the viewer and myself. This is my platform to present myself to myself, and others, working.

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How we hold our loved one's bodies as they come into and leave our lives is the focus of my explorations in Cradleboards to Coffins.

Nestings, wrappings and bindings encase the spirit and body in birth and death. Mothers swaddle their newborns to provide a womb outside the womb; use casings for transportation of their young, and to create a structured environment in which the parents may choose the their child's first views of society. In death we send our loved ones away in coffins and caskets. The funerary bindings protect the living from disease, decay and the insurmountable fear of our own death.

Our customs for the newly born and recently departed are vibrantly similar though grossly separated. Through the methods of textile techniques I am exploring the forms of packaging society uses to contain our bodies and our spirits throughout our lives.

Raffia, seagrass, tar and waxes compose these new works. Aromatic, and textural I aspire to transport the viewer into a quiet, meditative space. The forms are created using random weave basket techniques, intuitively winding individual strands of fiber throughout a mass of loose fiber to create a solid form. Then using random stitching I contort the vessel's shape sewing the sides together and begin to create the feel of a human form pushing on the sides of the wrappings. As the casings develop I feel the conversation I hold with each one end and my respect for their existence blossoms.  



EDUCATION:
2008    Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Barbara Cooper
2008    Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Hisako Sekijima
2007    Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, John Garrett
2006    Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Sandy Elverd
2005    Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Tracy Krumm
2003    Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Katharine Cobey
1995   Southern Methodist University, BFA, Photography and Painting
1994    Rhode Island School of Design, Fine Arts
1992-1994    St. John's College, Undergraduate work in philosophy

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2008
Conventions & Attitudes: Responding to the 2008 U.S. Elections
    Habeas Lounge, CUNY Graduate Center Art Gallery, NYC, NY
Conventions & Attitudes: Responding to the 2008 U.S. Elections,
    Remy's On Temple, Los Angeles, CA
Engendered Spaces, SCA Contemporary, Albuquerque, NM
LOVE ARMOR PROJECT, Center for Contemporary Arts,
    Munoz-Waxman Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Talking Heads, Seven - O - Seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Cradle Project Installation, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Salon MarGraff, Tesuque, New Mexico

2007  
The Cradle Project Preview Exhibition, Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
LOOSELY JOINED: New Mexico Artists from the Creative Capital Program,
    516 Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Cradle Project Preview Exhibition, Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Cradle Project Preview Exhibition, AIA, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Inaugural Exhibition, Underground Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Faculty and Technical Assistants Exhibition, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts,
    Deer Isle, Maine
Summer Art Show, Tesuque Village Market, Tesuque, New Mexico
Bang!, Farrell Fischoff Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexic
WOMADelaide 2007, Adelaide, Australia

2006   
Anniversary Exhibition, Salon Mar Graff, Tesuque, New Mexico
Hold It!, Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts, Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Faculty and Technical Assistants Exhibition, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts,
    Deer Isle, Maine
Small Expressions, HGA's Convergence, Juror: Gerhardt Knodel, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Creative Grand Crossings, HGA's Convergence, Juror: Carol Strangler, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Salon Mar Graff, Tesuque, New Mexico
Ongoing Exhibition, Métier Gallery, Dixon, New Mexico

2005   
Weaving and Fiber Arts of the Southwest, The Art Center at Fuller's Lodge,    
    Los Alamos, New Mexico
Challenge New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Ongoing Exhibition, Métier Gallery, Dixon, New Mexico

2003   
Wearable Expressions, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, California

2002   
Celebration of Craftswomen, San Francisco, California
International Colour Congress, Iowa City, Iowa
Fiber Celebration 2002, Northern Colorado Weavers Guild, Fort Collins, Colorado
2-3-4-Dimensions IV, Period Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska
Faces of Woman, Honorable Mention, Las Vegas Arts Council, Las Vegas, New Mexico

2001   
Nature Observed, Art Studio Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
New Mexico Women Artists, Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico

HONORS:
2008
Anderson Ranch Scholarship, Snowmass Village, Colorado
Artist Residency at Spiro Arts, Park City, Utah

2007    
Technical Assistant Scholarship, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
WOMADelaide Tjanpi Desert Weavers Workshop Scholarship

2006    
Creative Capital, Professional Development Grant
Technical Assistant Scholarship, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

2002    
Honorable Mention Award, Faces of Woman, Las Vegas Arts Council

PUBLICATIONS & VIDEOGRAPHY:
Carver, Jon. The Love Armor Project. THE Magazine. November 2008. page 45
Local, If Not Lucid. Zane Fischer. Santa Fe Reporter. September 24, 2008
Tough Love: The Love Armor Project. Amy Majerowicz. New Mexico Free Press. September 17, 2008
Too Cozy. Kim Russo. Journal Santa Fe. September 19,2008
Bringing the War Home. Kathaleen Roberts. Albuquerque Journal. September 5, 2008.
documentary film for LOVE ARMOR Project
The Cradle Project. Firelight Foundation. pages 28-29
Top Talent. Santa Fean. June/July 2008. pages 56-67
Hewitt, Sarah. Fiber Arts Magazine. Summer 2008. pages 22-23
Gallery Wall: Spiro Arts. Park City Flipside. May 22 - June 4, 2008. page 18
Park City Television, Morning Show, May 21, 2008
Rossiter, Shaun. A Good Idea Is Not Enough. 15 Bytes. May 2008. page 4
Kotler, Steven. Land Rover, Land Rover, Toss That Afghan Over. Santa Fe Trend.
    Spring/Summer 2008. page 42
Mayfield. Dan. Gallery a Hot Spot for Art Programs. The Sunday Journal. November 4, 2007
Pasatiempo, Santa Fe New Mexican, November 2007
Sampling, Fiber Arts Magazine, Nov/December 2007 Issue. page 30
Carver, Jon. Bang!. THE Magazine. July 2007. page 75
Creative Grand Crossings–Multimedia Interlacements Exhibit. Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot.
    Spring 2007. page 60
Coffee, Denise. Hold It!. Pagosa Daily Post. November 29, 2006
Small Expressions 2006.Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot. Fall 2006
Fisher, Zane.Santa Fe Trend.Fall 2006/Winter 2007.page 34
Surface Design Journal.Members Gallery.2006. page 57