Sara Osebold

Artist Statement

Place is where you know the scent of the sidewalk grit after a rain. The longer I live in a place the more I notice the extraordinary in the everyday. Surreal visions amid stable surroundings feel like home to me. I want to experience the seasons (and their more subtle transitions), feel the particular elements of climate, understand the ecological behavior over time. As I walk around my neighborhood and city, I’m able to explore these things at a slower pace. Occasionally, I glean an interesting scrap material that I bring back to the studio. The ground is my oyster, loam-filled. Under the ground, a psychic place for me, is the world unseen, holding mystery and mythology where invisible life—real and imagined—persists. The feeling of security and warmth resides here. In this way, both the physical and imaginative aspects of place serve the work I create.

 I make drawings and sculpture. I’m interested how the two concentrations enhance one another and at times, overlap. My work is process-driven where my intuitive and conceptual modes of working intertwine. I use carving stone, terracotta clay, graphite, used sandpaper, bells, kukui nuts, wool felt and collected fragments. I give tender attention to discarded material which I redignify. The completed work often results in a form hinting at an ongoing ritual.

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Sara Osebold is an artist based in Seattle focused in sculpture and drawing. Her work comes out of an unwavering fascination with themes based on the underground, phenomena of the natural and urban worlds, mystery and play. While sculpture provides a conceptual means for her art process, drawing gives her access to the immediate and intuitive. For her, the line is of essential importance and visually connects the two mediums. She received her MFA at Pratt Institute, has been a member of SOIL art collective and shown work in New York, Boston, Connecticut and various art venues in Seattle.