Industry & Interest
May 2012
Interview & Feature
Read article on Industry & Interest here.
ASHER:
What are some of your favorite memories of growing up as a kid?
SARA:
Going to the Outer Banks with my family, climbing the crape myrtle tree in my backyard. Collecting bugs and rocks. Building forts with my best friends Lea and William who lived on my block. Running down Jockey’s Ridge in North Carolina. I think all my favorite kid memories involve being outside.
ASHER:
You have said that when you were younger you didn’t think you were any good at art/drawing – what/who helped you to realize that you had a gift and gave you the confidence to work on it?
SARA:
I still have days I don’t think I’m any good. A lot of them. But the love of making things far outweighs that insecurity, which may be the only reason I keep it up. I think around high school I started to define myself as a person who makes things. It wasn’t always good, but I still started to carve out an identity. Certainly my family and my teachers encouraged me greatly (Ms Podd was my first art teacher, and later I owe a lot to Diego Sanchez). Looking back I appreciate it so much more because I know the artwork they mentored me with, and it was all pretty terrible. But they were able to recognize passion in someone young who just liked to make stuff, and that was a huge gift.
ASHER:
What was your journey from Virginia to NYC?
SARA:
I came to NYC to attend New York University. Around age 16 I became obsessed with NYU (because it was the only school here that I knew about, and I thought it had a program that could make my Princetonian father proud enough). I had tunnel vision. I’m not sure it was necessarily a good thing, but I had made up my mind that I could become the person I wanted to be in a place like New York.
I didn’t apply anywhere else and was lucky enough to get in early decision in a small program called Gallatin for Individualized Study where they basically let you take whatever you want and invent a major. To be honest, it was a really tough transition. It was scary. I didn’t know anyone when I moved up here almost 10 years ago. I remember chain smoking in Washington Square Park for months just thinking, what the heck have I done?! But of course I met wonderful people, got my bearings—and these days I feel like it’s the smallest town in the world.
ASHER:
What is it about the dirt, grime and snarl of NYC that you like?
SARA:
Sometimes the dirt and grime does gets me down, but I think initially it was the novelty of it all coming from the suburbs. I thought it made me tough somehow that this was my new terrain of choice. I’ve always loved the Lower East Side in particular, and I felt so much life in all the layering of textures and street art. Everything had a story. They had been layered in slowly, one by one, over time, by many people. I liked being able to be alone in a big city, yet always feeling life and creativity around me.
ASHER:
What are some of your favorite things to do in NYC?
SARA:
Pizza: Grupo, Burgers: Minetta Tavern or Ruby’s, Cafe: Local on Sullivan Street, Bar: Irish bar on my block called The Scratcher. Brunch: Diner in South Williamsburg. I’m a pretty big loner, but I do love to eat out with my very small group of close friends (when we’re not all working). Eating out seems to be a favorite pastime for New Yorkers. After all, my oven is used for storage.
ASHER:
You often go for runs at 2am in the morning – is this part of your downtime/thinking time in a city that never sleeps?
SARA:
I think the night runs began when I had unwisely signed up for the marathon and soon thereafter took a job as an art director at a spot that had me working until 1 and 2AM fairly regularly. I’m not a morning runner, so my only choice was to scrape myself up and run in the middle of the night with my keys held like brass knuckles. Night running is pretty magical. I was usually the only one out running at that hour. It’s both the loneliest feeling in the world and one of the most exciting. It was also during a time I was doing some soul searching, and it’s still something I come back to now when I need some clarity.
ASHER:
How important are your friendships/relationships to you and how important is it to surround yourself with people you can trust?
SARA:
I’m still figuring out this one, especially at this particular point in my life. I don’t feel like I’ve always invested enough in my friendships because I’ve always chosen work. My relationships have always been the one thing that rivals work in importance. They are symbiotic I suppose. I’m the best at work when I’m in love. The unhappy irony is that they always compete for time and one suffers. It takes a patient person to put up with me I guess. I do feel like I need a rock to serve as that trusted sounding board. Maybe we all do.
ASHER:
What is it about animals that you love so much? Can you tell us about your cat?
SARA:
Eugene my cat is a total brat. He’s very particular and grumpy, and he likes no one but me. On the other hand, he also knows just the right time to let me know he loves me. I think he and I are kindred spirits—total loners who realize on occasion we aren’t invincible or above connecting with other creatures. I love animals first and foremost because they are beautiful and have the most inspiration for me visually. But moreover, animals aren’t really trying to do anything but just be and survive. They have no ulterior motives, no evil, they just exist as best they can. They somehow get to escape all the drama of human existence.
ASHER:
What makes you choose a particular ‘animal’ to have as a tattoo?
SARA:
I’m so lame. I have no good answer. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my tattoos. Mostly they are just random and collaborated with my tattooer Steve Boltz. I usually leave it all up to him. I do love birds though. I have 8 winged creatures.
ASHER:
How important is it to dream and stay child-like in life?
SARA:
I’m a Libra, so I’m apparently always like a 45 year old no matter my real age. I have a very active imagination and consistently have insane and vivid dreams that fuck up my next day or even week, but on the other hand I do have a very hard time accessing my inner child, especially around people I don’t know. However I think I always gravitate to other people who help me loosen up. There’s a lot to be said for another person helping to balance you out. My dream partner in crime knows how to make me laugh. So to answer your question, it’s very important, but I need help.
ASHER:
You’ve shared in previous interviews that you are ‘guided by your heart and that the point in life is love’… can you share how this effects your journey in life and your creativity?
SARA:
I don’t know much about anything really—all I know is that without loving something or someone else, I have a really hard time getting up in the morning. Love is the greatest motivation for being alive. When people I love go away, I still always love art. I think love in many ways is synonymous with hope. The hope of seeing that person’s face at the end of the day or the hope of sharing something you made with the world. And to take it one step further, love is also vulnerability. It’s putting yourself out there emotionally. If you’re willing to risk it, the outcome can either be bliss or devastation. I like extremes, even when it hurts and it’s hard to see that it was all necessary. It’s an idea I like, and still have to work to embrace. The only meaningful tattoo I have is script that reads “since feeling is first,” from my favorite e. e. cummings poem to remind me to go with my heart when I get stuck.
ASHER:
What roles do music and fashion have in influencing your creativity?
SARA:
Both are kind of other modes of escapism that strike the same cords as making art. Fashion has always inspired me. I used to redraw the women in Vogue when I was growing up. I tended to like the really stylized stuff that looked like a completely abstracted, fantastical world. Music has the same power. With the right song playing, you can be in any world you want.
ASHER:
Do you work (create) better with music playing?
SARA:
I used to always think yes, but strangely enough I’ve been working in silence quite a bit lately. Music usually takes me to another place, but silence keeps you in the “right now.” I’m trying to work on that this year.
ASHER:
Do you need ‘aloneness’ to create…what does your ‘creative mood’ feel like?
SARA:
I used to really need it, mostly because I was so insecure and was scared of being judged while I was still figuring out what it was that I was making. Now I can draw in front of a select few people, of which I can come up with 4 total. 2 are family and one is gone, and the last doesn’t live in New York any more. In the past few months my most creative mood has been occurring after I wrap up a whole bunch of client work and I feel I’ve learned new things from that experience. I then want to put those new tools to practice in something all for me with the freedom of failing.
ASHER:
What do you want people to feel/walk away with when they see your art/designs?
SARA:
I’m not sure. I guess I just want people to be intrigued and maybe even think it’s beautiful. I’m not really sure what art does in general, so it’s hard to answer this about my own. When I see another person’s work that I love, all i know is “WOW.” I don’t always know why or what it is that I’m even looking at. It’s something sublime. Art does not have to be functional, as I see it.
ASHER:
What are some of the things that you are excited about for this year specifically to do with your art/illustration/design?
SARA:
This is the most wide open clear blue sky scary year I’ve seen so far. I’m finally feeling more confidence than ever before, but I feel I’m at a crossroads where I need to figure out the next thing. I’m launching a small textiles company called ZSO-NYC that will launch with silk scarves, but it’s very slow going because it’s self initiated. I feel like I’ve been teasing this launch for months now! I also have a solo show next summer in Philadelphia, and a group show opening in May in Australia. I’m currently wrapping up some new work for Ford’s Focus electric car. To be completely honest and potentially boring, I think I’m most excited and scared for some soul searching this year, outside of illustration.
ASHER:
What was one of the most enjoyable jobs you have worked on?
SARA:
Personal work is always my favorite. When I have no expectations or restrictions I usually am most proud if something starts to work. But at the same time, client work has helped me learn important skills I wouldn’t have had to learn otherwise—mainly learning to work more efficiently and being more flexible with revisions to ultimately make something even better (even when it’s frustrating).
ASHER:
What are some things that make you happy/feel blessed in life?
SARA:
My family and my few but very loved friends. Those rare times you feel like someone else really gets you. Making a drawing you like when everything else in the world doesn’t seem to make sense. Getting a random email from someone saying they love your work. And of course, Cuteoverload.com
ASHER:
If someone couldn’t see you or your art and wanted to know something about you…what is the most important thing that you would like them to know about you as
a person?
SARA:
“All you need is love” – John Lennon