SARAH PERRY
BIO
Sarah Perry has been exhibiting her sculptures professionally since 1983. She has been in over 150 shows including 14 solo exhibits and a retrospective at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Perry has received awards from the James Irvine Foundation – 2007, The Alliance of Artists Communities Visions From the New California Award – 2007, City of Los Angeles Grant for Individual Artists, C.O.L.A. 2000-2001, and California Community Foundation, Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, Individual Artists Fellowship – 2000. She has taught undergraduate as well as graduate level sculpture at Otis Art Institute, led workshops and lectured extensively at museums and universities including Claremont Graduate School and USC. The Frostig Collection, City of Albuquerque Library and private patrons have commissions and her pieces reside in numerous collections.
ARTIST STATEMENT
At the core of my pieces is a concept or feeling that I want to communicate. I try to do this through the form of the sculpture, the materials and the title. Although I use anything from truck tires to books depending on the idea, I often speak through the use of creatures (either found or fabricated). I find their image, rather than just the human form, profoundly moving and universal. If you look at a rhino, mouse or human hip bone- they are all the same shape. We are kin. And their warnings and messages can be provocative in a discreet yet piercing way.
I moved to the mountains of California several years ago because I wanted the unexpected twists of a life immersed in wildness. I’ve created a habitat welcoming to as many creatures as possible and have won the trust of numerous animals. But there was nothing in my prior experience to prepare me for what it was like to call Luna over to me. Luna is a wild bobcat, and to look into her eyes is to see a world we have forgotten. Fierce and frightening, immensely timeless, unfettered by words/things, free and vulnerable. Her gaze cuts right to your bone marrow. Where our blood is created. In all animals.
Night Migration, 2003, Rib bones, bone putty, DAS Modeling compound, taxidermied found lizard appendages, steel, twine, acrylic paint, glues, screws, copper, sealants, 44 x 44 x 2 in., height variable
Eau de Bee, 2014 Altered perfume and medical bottles, vintage mirrored tray, medical instruments, natural materials including urchin oak galls, preserved bees, quail wishbones, cat claws, plant seeds, cicada wings, shed snake skin heads, bones, insect jewelry, mixed media, 8 x 13.5 x 9.5 in.
99 Birds, 2015, Fencing sword, taxidermied found English house sparrow feet, metal patinas, acrylic paint, sealants, mixed media, 5 x 42 x 4 in.
