Sara Richardson is a professional multi-disciplinary artist
Sara currently lives and works as a full time artist in Colorado. Presently, she is busy creating several different series of oil paintings, encaustic works and mixed media pieces thematically represented by land, water and small creatures. Some most influential artists are Leon Golub, El Greco, B. Kruger, Goya, Duchamp, Cindy Sherman, David Park and former professor H. Røgeberg.
Sara grew up near rural Peoria, Illinois where a little kid could freely chase an ice cream truck for blocks and life was pretty simple. Later her family moved to a small town in northeast Missouri where she spent the remaining half of her childhood – preferring to be outdoors exploring as much as possible. She started her art education somewhat late in life at Missouri State.
During her second year in college she was encouraged to transfer to the University of Kansas to pursue fine art or to the University of Iowa to study creative writing. With help from her parents and Art Professor Christine Baeumler, she chose the University of Kansas.
“I showed up at Kansas and floundered all over the place until something amazing happened in a studio painting course that altered my life.”
The work produced at KU triggered scholarship awards, exhibitions and later KU purchased her painting (the first time in the schools history) “Unity” which still hangs in the honors building. She was then encouraged to study and the School of the Art Institute Chicago for the summer painting and sculpture programs – another major eye opener.
She graduated with a BFA and honors in painting from KU and a MFA emphasis painting / photography from the University of Washington, Seattle a few years later. After school, she moved to Los Angeles, continued to show in group exhibitions and surprisingly, sold about 30 small pieces out of a privately owned furniture store in south Beverly Hills.
“I was young and broke in LA. The family that owned the furniture shop let me use a storage closet as a studio for free and didn’t care if I peddled my work out of the store as long as I sold a few sofas for them too.”
Richardson relocated from Los Angeles and found work as an interface designer that led to a stellar 14 year career in web design and development. She wrote for Yahoo! Small Business and Microsoft, was a guest expert for Microsoft Small Business and the lead creative force behind countless companies including WD-40 Company, MapMyFitness and a banana company that begins with a ‘C’. During her internet career she continued to make art, but there was always an element of unrest because of the divided attention between a demanding career and time in the studio. In 2012 she returned her entire focus to painting, drawing and photography.
“I feel fortunate to have lived and worked all over the place (DC being my favorite in some ways) and seen/breathed-in/felt so much. It feels great to be in my studio 100%. It’s where I am meant to be.”
Artist Statement
Being and artistry is poetic liberty. Profound and full of discovery where I am free to indulge in the process of painting with a thoughtful purposeful hand. I find myself deliberately creating works of contradiction where the beautiful lives on one side – disaster on the other.
Cerebral paired with romantically obvious elements. Intent. Gentle brutality and unpredictable humor. These conflicting elements begin to reform meanings and plots in the unfolding drama of found spaces – defined through color, canvas and imprint.