Sarah Bean

Literature has been an essential part of my world for as long as I can remember. I feel most comfortable in rooms which are full of the stories and characters that are a home to me. My hope, with this body of work, is to create a kind of precious reliquary for books madly loved. To take a book down from its shelf and place it on a wall where it can be seen again and spoken about. The books we love deserve that kind of reverence. Art is a way for me to study the time and world that I live in, one that is moving away from the printed word and into a digital one. It is where I work my ideas into clarity with experimentation, questioning and guesses. The challenge of poetry and collage are the same: elaborate a richness for the soul from a simple form, suppressing everything that is useless. I come to collage by way of training in mathematics and physics, a passion for music, a friendship with literature, and a commitment to philosophy. These interests have a tendency to pull the imagination into different directions, in collage however, I have found a format in which these fields of interest can work together to speak for me. For subjects I choose things which are fragile, but also impossible to destroy. Fragile because they are quiet, private moments which are easily missed in our loud, busy lives. Impossible to destroy, because these sublime moments of clarity have existed since the beginning of the written word. With art, we seek what moves us. For me, it is things of simplicity and authenticity. Stories that have an effect of dignity and elevation. I seek subjects which are challenging to explain. I hold them close to me, observe them and make art from the atmosphere that they create. Seek what moves you. Between the one who creates a work of art and the one who loves it, there is a shared nature and an intimate, silent understanding. I think it is perhaps the highest form of living, when we can reach it.