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Sarah Edwards / Abstract

I create images with absurd magical situations using familiar yet weightless objects.  My work is inspired by the wonder of a child, the pile of dirty dishes in my sink, a pineapple in the cupboard, and the jellyfish in the St. Mary’s River.  I take everyday objects and bring them together in unexpected ways creating relationships that inspire storytelling.            

I want to tell stories because they make us happy.  Storytelling entertains and amuses while bringing people together in a personal, direct, and spontaneous moment.  Stories allow us to share and understand each other’s perspectives, values, wisdom, and humor.  In particular, I am interested in the sharing of fairy tales, stories which are set in a separate time and world.  In these narratives anything can happen and the reader or listener accepts the situation no matter how whacky the event.  The most ordinary object becomes mysterious and worthy of our attention.  It is often easy to overlook the joy which can come with familiar objects because we are bored, stressed, uninterested or busy.  By connecting the mysterious aspect of fairytales with every day familiar objects, the art can remind us of the potential amusement in such things as a jellyfish.

In addition, my work creates open narratives.  Usually stories have an obvious middle, beginning, and end, but my drawings could be anywhere in the narrative. The work is made with color pencil, watercolor, and laser transfers on white paper where the background is left completely blank.  This allows the viewer to use their imagination to determine the setting and time.  The viewer is not given many answers and instead are left questioning relationships, like why is that bird carrying a bra?

Fairytales turn the ordinary into something completely unexpected and magical.  By employing the same wonder in objects I am making images that connect to the magic and mystery of childhood.  In my childhood, my parent’s coat closet, the dinning room table, and marshmallows acted as things and places where I could lose myself in my imaginations.  Everything was new and bright and the possibilities were grand- I even believed I could fly.  My work is inspired by children’s carefree and weightless worlds, where imagination lets things float and flip and be fantastic.  I want viewers of all ages to remember how strange the most ordinary objects can be and that adventures and stories are everywhere, just waiting to be found.   

 

abstract/ statement/ sources/ images / Return to SMP 2006 Index