The Vault: Sarah Sipling - Protest (Print)

Artist Bio:

Sarah Sipling grew up in upstate New York. She received a Bachelors of Fine Art at SUNY Purchase College and studied visual arts and literature. She received a Masters of Fine Art in printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design. Sarah is skilled in digital and traditional printmaking methods and incorporates photography, interactive digital media and hand drawn elements into her print based work. Sarah has exhibited nationally and internationally and is active in community based print projects.

Artist Statement:

Protest (Print)

I question in my life and in my art. Making art, for me, is a way to look into the questions I have about life, about society and about the world. I work in series, altering the focus of each series to deal with the current struggles, questions, and understandings as I adjust to each change in life. I focus on the many possibilities of printmaking, combining traditional and digital techniques. Each printmaking method has a unique visual language and communicative power and I often combine techniques and reimagine the possibilities of each method. An ongoing series of digital, silkscreen and mixed media prints, Protest (Print) questions todays many political issues and feelings of fear and exclusion. In these prints I am using collage methods, using many layers of different types of printmaking, from digital to silkscreen and lithography, to create physically layered prints that address the multiple ways that changes within the government impact our country as a whole and the wellbeing of the person as an individual. I believe that a physically ripped and glued collage represents the sense of piecing together the truth, discarding the ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’. I believe the layers and collage method will also represent the fragmented and partisan society and how the feelings of fear and exclusion can be overwhelming. I am currently looking into the role of the people in creating change within the government and within society. The role that protests have played historically and currently, in speaking up, in demanding change. A never-ending sea of protests, from climate change awareness, to women’s rights, to civil rights and immigrants’ rights become layers within these prints. I feel that the current political and social climate calls for a more forward approach within art and this series of activist prints starts to address todays many political issues and my personal feelings and questions of fear and exclusion. Landscape is referenced in these prints, representing the overall beauty and physicality of this country and its ideals. As I question the current dangerous and destructive political narrative, I look for positive elements and the possibility of protests, of change.