In her paintings and drawings artist Sarah Nordean uses the obsessive repetition of small gestures as a way to consider the rhythms of time, labour, and place. Small marks accumulate over time into larger organic masses. Her aim is to generate a tension between the meticulousness of her mark making and the amorphous shapes that form. “I attempt to echo the relentless nature of everyday life as a way to showcase simplicity, to highlight small differences, and to acknowledge the inevitable complexities.”
Sarah holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta University of the Arts (2009), and a Master of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University (2014). She teaches drawing at the Alberta University of the Arts. Recent projects include the White Rabbit Arts Residency and Festival (2018), the Carmichael Canadian Landscape Exhibition at the Orillia Museum of Art and History in Ontario (2016), a solo exhibition at Arts Commons in Calgary, Alberta (2015), and The Istanbul Design Biennial in Turkey (2014). Sarah’s work is in the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Colart Collection.
Click here to watch a short video clip of Sarah in her studio describing the interplay between representation and abstraction in her work.
Exhibition: 2020
PRESS
