Sarah Shearer
My work has always been inspired by nature and its components of rhythm, repetition, seasons, organic forms, decay, and regeneration. Most recently I am creating prints to convey the essence of life contained in physical forms and bodily cycles, visible on the surface and beyond what the eye can see. Breathing, pulsing, expanding, shrinking, withering, and ovulating, these cycles take form in the prints as vessels, often transforming into hourglass shapes. Using a serial approach, the vessel is re-generated in different ways as a symbol for the body but also to infer the tracking of time, a protective container, the micro, the macro, constriction, expansion, ebb, and flow.

While I reference the human body and organic forms, the resulting prints become more abstract as I record my reaction to the mystery and wonder of the human body in connection to the larger world. The images become alive and move on a two dimensional plane. They emerge from the surface of the paper and give the viewer a sense of wonder and feelings of uncertainty. They slowly grow and expand as they cycle repeatedly through the press, building layer upon layer of imagery and history.

The form and its environment are closely related and often share similar components. This sharing of components emphasizes the idea that we are part of a greater whole, and that the air we breathe into our lungs is the same air that is exhaled and moves between our inner world and the outer world. Thinking about what happens both outside our bodies and within the vessel we call the body.

My process is continually changing and growing as I work with a variety of materials. I continue to reexamine my work and recreate my interpretation of nature. While working with different materials the resulting imagery changes formally but continues to depict my fascination and wonder in the cyclical phenomenon of the human body and the natural world.