Sara McKenzie

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Born in the midwest, and raised on both coasts, I returned to the midwest for my college and graduate school years. My formal education was in science, and I spent more than 30 years in the Boston area happily engaged in biotechnology. I trained and have lived in a world of complicated, abstract concepts, experimental design and data analysis.

At the same time, I’ve always created with my hands in addition to my head. Over the years, and using all manner of media (fabric, fiber, glass, paper, clay, paint) I’ve explored form and function, color and shape, representation and abstraction. Making something from nothing.

My training in the scientific method was applied to a study of the external world. The process goes like this: Ask a question, poseahypothesis. Apply an appropriate process to obtain an answer while simultaneously letting go of the outcome. Experience the result. Ask the next question. Repeat. Engaged with logical thinking and problem solving, the mind ultimately synthesizes a whole from disparate elements.

Now, I find that I use this same approach in creating art for the study of my internal world. My heart explores spiritual and emotional questions, perhaps even the unknowable. I ask a question, and, letting go of the outcome, I begin my process. Add a layer of paint, take some away. Apply medium for texture. Glue on paper or found objects. Layer by layer, adding and removing, obliterating and revealing, solving problems and creating a whole from disparate parts.

Sara McKenzie

Selected Works

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Chadwick Uptain

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David Rudolph