Sarah Gross

Sarah Gross grew up in a small apartment in densely populated New York City, often finding herself pressed up against strangers on the crowded train. This experience informed the way she looks at the world and relates to others, with genuine curiosity—and caution. Her work explores physical closeness, emotional distance, and the discomfort and longing that results from that tension.

Sarah shows her work nationally and internationally and is included in numerous collections including the U.S. Department of State, The University of Costa Rica, and the Shiwan Ceramics Museum in Foshan, China. She earned her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BA from Carleton College. She has taught ceramics in various institutions around the US, and completed artist residencies at c.r.e.t.a Rome, Green Olive Arts, Morocco, Greenwich House Pottery, Grand Valley State University, and the Lawrence Arts Center. Sarah is an Associate Professor of Visual Art at the University of Kansas.

“Closeness may not establish intimacy, but it can fascinate and repel. I grew up in New York City, always sharing space with people I did not know. The contradiction of physical density and emotional distance made me feel simultaneously alienated by and enamored with millions of strangers. I explore this conflict by making work that manifests invisible dividers and destabilizes familiar relationships, making the unknown known, and the known unknown. Inviting and forbidding, my work addresses issues of power, desire, vulnerability, and visibility. Through it, I disrupt familiar ideas about gender roles, sacred and domestic space, and our attempts to influence the gaze of others.

I make art that unsettles the viewer’s perspective. Obstructions and openings confront the viewer, creating spatial and visual relationships that shift and disorient. I create encounters where the viewer must question how they fit into the structure, making the act of looking more self-aware. Scale, intimacy, and the body of the viewer are fundamental considerations. I use pattern, repetition, and accumulation as tools to engage the viewer’s eye and refer to historic tilework and sacred architecture.

I am fascinated by the ways we project our values and act out our aspirations through so many of our activities—including how we dress, how we spend money, and how we decorate our homes. Floral arrangements, garlands, and gardens have become sites of inquiry for me as I consider popular hobbies taken to extremes. My most recent work explores ideas of fertility, abundance, sexuality, and status by covering surfaces with vegetal forms. These sculptural pieces are embedded with layers of desire and discomfort.”

Visit Sarah Gross’s website and Instagram page.