Artist Statement
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.
My work questions political issues focusing on ideas of protest, power, and perception. I use 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 well-being 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.’ The layers and collage method 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 Black Lives Matter, to climate change awareness, to women’s rights, and immigrants’ rights become layers within my prints.
Landscape is referenced in my work, with the horrors of history hidden within the overall beauty and physicality of a country and its ideals. As I question the ongoing dangerous and destructive political narrative, I look for positive elements and the possibility of protests, of change.
Biography
Sipling received her MFA in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design and BFA in Printmaking from Purchase College, State University of New York. Her work has been shown at Gate FortyFour Gallery, Milan Italy; Foundry Art Center, St Charles MO; COS Gallery, Visalia CA; Brick Red Gallery, New Orleans LA; Janet Turner Print Museum, Chico CA; Reece Museum, Johnson City TN; East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hilo HI; and Augusta Savage Gallery, Amherst MA. Sipling received the 2022 Black Box Press Art as Activism Honorable Mention Grant and was selected for the 2020-2022 Arquetopia Foundation Honors Residency, in Puebla Mexico. Sipling’s work is held in public collections such as the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw GA; Shanghaf Collection, Dubai, UAE; Penang State Museum, Penang Malaysia; Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro AR; Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Haugesund Norway; and Museu Casada Xilogravura, Campos do Jordao Brazil. She lives and works in New York and Kansas City.
CV
EDUCATION
2008 Master of Fine Arts: Printmaking RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts: Printmaking Concentration SUNY PURCHASE
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Protest with Veins, Impact 12, Centre for Print Research, Bristol England
2021 Protest (Print), Foundry Art Center, St Charles MO
2021 Protest and Print, The Vault, d’Art Center, Norfolk VA
2019 Deteriorate, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum, Gimpo-si Korea
2019 Deterioration, FrontierSpace Gallery, Missoula MT
2019 More than Me, Brick Red Gallery, New Orleans LA
2018 Sipling New Work, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth TX
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Hanging by a Thread, Left of Center Art Gallery, Las Vegas NV
2024 Rage Against the Machine, Pittsburg Seen, Pittsburn PA
2023 New Contemporaries, Dodomu Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2023 Pivotal, WCADC, Montpeilier Arts Center, Laurel MD
2023 Land, Race and Activism, Myers Gallery of Art, Grand Forks ND
2023 NAPAPERI, Gallery 83, Kviv Ukraine
2022 Screenprint Biennial, Mirabo Press Gallery, Buffalo NY
2022 The Fierce Urgency of Now: Social Engaged Printmaking, Janet Turner Print Museum, Chico CA
2022 UNDERCURRENTS, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven CT
2021 Persist, Persevere, Be, IncuArts Gallery, Honolulu HI
2021 Us and Them, TAC Gallery, The Art Center, Highland Park IL
2021 Prints 2021, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, New York, NY
2020 And We Won’t Stop: works by Michael Amato, Kate Shannon, and Sarah Sipling, COS Gallery, Visalia CA
2020 Printmeking, Gate FortyFour Gallery, Milan Italy
2020 What Are You Voting For?, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL
2020 PERSIST and Reimagine, Ww Art Gallery and National Women’s Caucus for Art, Detroit MI
2020 FL3TCH3R Exhibit: Social and Politically Engaged Art, Reece Museum East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN
2019 Pacific States Biennial North American Printmaking, East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hilo HI
2018 Works On/Of Paper, Brick Red Gallery, New Orleans LA
2018 Intolerance as Violence, Hera Gallery, Wakefield RI
2017 “We need to talk…” Petzel Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Waging Peace, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee FL
2013 Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze, Kinsey Institute Gallery, Bloomington, IN
2010 Eflux Unrealized projects, Agency of Unrealized Projects, Basel, Switzerland
2010 Propaganda in Print, Oxbow Gallery, Reno, NV
SELECTED AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2023 Mozaik Philanthropy Future Art Award: the Digital Awakening
2023 Land, Race and Activism, UND Purchase Award
2022 Artist Grant, Puffin Foundation Ltd.
2022 Art as Activism Honorable Mention Grant, Black Box Press
2022 Voice NFT Residency, Season 2
2020-2022 Arquetopia Foundation International Alumni Honors Residency Program, Puebla Mexico
2020 Award of Merit, Fl3tch3r Exhibition, Rice Museum
2019 Arquetopia Foundation Printmaking Residency, Puebla Mexico
2018 Diane Haynes Purchase Award, DNSP, Bradbury Art Museum
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Shanghaf Permanent Collection, Dubai, UAE
Penang State Museum, Penang Malaysia
Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw GA
Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro AR
Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Haugesund Norway
Museu Casada Xilogravura, Campos do Jordao Brazil
Husby Art Center, Husby Sweden
China Printmaking Museum, Guanlan, Shenzhen
Gallery 83, Kyiv Ukraine