Sara Garden Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Sara Garden Armstrong is an American
artist
who lives and works in New York City
. Armstrong creates sculpture
s, painting
s, drawing
s from miniature to wall size, artist's books, multimedia artworks
involving computers sound and light, and constructs permanent installations in atrium spaces. Armstrong received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama
in Tuscaloosa and her Master of Art Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham
. Armstrong also studied art at New York University
and with the University of Windsor
, Windsor, Ontario in Yeovil, England
while attending UAB. An educator for several years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
, she moved to New York City
in 1981.
Armstrong's early period with the exploration of sound had exhibitions at the Visual Arts Gallery at UAB and the Birmingham Museum of Art
, Birmingham, Alabama
. Her first exhibition in New York City
was at PS1 in 1982, “'the Sound Corridor'” curated by William Hellermen. This installation began her multimedia series of work entitled “'Airplayer'” which ended in 1992 at the CB’s 313 Gallery and Bar (next door to CBGB
) on the Bowery with "'Airplayer XIV'" - both installations utilized mechanisms for movement and sound.
Armstrong's work has been published extensively. Among the publications are Southern Accents
, "'The New Yorker
,'" "'The New York Art World,'" "'Birmingham Magazine,'" "'Port Folio Weekly
,'" "'Seattle Post-Intelligencer
'" and "'The New York Times
'".
in London, UK, MoMA
in New York City, WAAND "Women Artists Archives National Directory, Ira Silverberg Papers, Sun and Moon Press Archive, Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who lives and works in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Armstrong creates sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s from miniature to wall size, artist's books, multimedia artworks
Multimedia artist
Multimedia artists are contemporary artists who use a wide range of media to communicate their art. Multimedia art includes, by definition, more than one medium, therefore multimedia artists use visual art in combination with sound art, moving images and other media...
involving computers sound and light, and constructs permanent installations in atrium spaces. Armstrong received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
in Tuscaloosa and her Master of Art Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
. Armstrong also studied art at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and with the University of Windsor
University of Windsor
The University of Windsor is a public comprehensive and research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has a student population of approximately 15,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students and over 1000 graduate students...
, Windsor, Ontario in Yeovil, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
while attending UAB. An educator for several years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
, she moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1981.
Armstrong's early period with the exploration of sound had exhibitions at the Visual Arts Gallery at UAB and the Birmingham Museum of Art
Birmingham Museum of Art
Founded in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama today has one of the finest collections in the Southeast US, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing a numerous diverse cultures, including Asian, European, American,...
, Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. Her first exhibition in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
was at PS1 in 1982, “'the Sound Corridor'” curated by William Hellermen. This installation began her multimedia series of work entitled “'Airplayer'” which ended in 1992 at the CB’s 313 Gallery and Bar (next door to CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
) on the Bowery with "'Airplayer XIV'" - both installations utilized mechanisms for movement and sound.
Armstrong's work has been published extensively. Among the publications are Southern Accents
Southern Accents
Southern Accents is the sixth album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1985.The album's first single, "Don't Come Around Here No More," cowritten by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its music video featured Alice in Wonderland imagery...
, "'The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
,'" "'The New York Art World,'" "'Birmingham Magazine,'" "'Port Folio Weekly
Port Folio Weekly
Port Folio Weekly is an online publication serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. First published in 1983, the newspaper is owned by Landmark Communications....
,'" "'Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
'" and "'The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
'".
Work
- 1991 Airplayer XIII, Bronx Museum of the ArtsBronx Museum of the ArtsThe Bronx Museum of the Arts is a cultural institution located in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th century works created by American artists, and it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa and Asia...
, New York, NY - In 1992, Armstrong was invited to be part of “'At the intersection of cinema & books: photographic & digital installations'” curated by Emily Hartzell for Granary Books Gallery.
- In 1995 The Book and Beyond, curated by Douglas Dodd, National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, London, England - In 1996 Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany
- In 1998 Art and Technology, Bellevue Art Museum, WA
- In 1999, "'Marking Time, Large Scale Drawing, Sara Garden Armstrong,'" was covered extensively. Among the various revues were The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The New York Art World, M and Internet ArtResources. This exhibition was curated by Grady T. Turner and included a catalogue. - Alabama School of Fine ArtsAlabama School of Fine ArtsThe Alabama School of Fine Arts is a public, partially residential high school located in Birmingham, AL. The mission of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, a community of explorers, is to nurture impassioned students by guiding and inspiring them to discover and fulfill their individual creative...
– Littoral series, 2002 - 2002 Space One Eleven, Birmingham, AL
- 2003 - 2010 Lucky Draw, SculptureCenter, New York, NY
- In 2004, David MoosDavid MoosDavid Moos is the Curator of Contemporary Art at AGO Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.Moos went to Jesse Ketchum Public School in Yorkville, Toronto and then went on to Jarvis Collegiate, he received a doctorate in art history from Columbia University and is a contributing editor to Art Papers...
curated Armstrong's work into “'Contemporary American Art,'" at the United States Embassy in Prague,” Prague, The Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... - In 2006, Armstrong's work was part of "Contour: The Definitive Line" curated by Jon CoffeltJon CoffeltJohnny Lee Coffelt born is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City. Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts and curates art exhibitions.-Background:...
. One of 17 artists who were asked to define the concept of contour, the exhibit was the culmination of this subjective approach. This exhibition also included "Clayton ColvinClayton ColvinClayton Colvin is an American artist and Curator of Contemporary Art who lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama. He received a BA in Art History from New York University in 1999 and an MA Ed. Art Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2003...
, Travis Childers, Lee IsaacsLee IsaacsLee Isaacs is an American photographer, living and working in Birmingham, Alabama.Isaacs studied pinhole photography with Pinky Bass. He has worked both with commercial and art photography. He works with photography seminars and teaches classes and workshops across the US.He has involved himself...
and Sean SlemonSean SlemonSean Slemon is a South African artist who works in sculpture, installation and printmaking. He lives and works in New York City, New York...
. James Nelson comments on Armstrong's work in The Birmingham News on June 18, 2006. - In 2008, Armstrong was selected and curated by Miranda McClintic for 41 Park' “Sara Garden Armstrong: distant views: works on paper.” There was a catalogue included with this exhibition
- In 2009 Armstrong's work was chosen to be part of the exhibition "Anthropology: Revisited, Reinvented, Reinterpreted" along with the work of Lee IsaacsLee IsaacsLee Isaacs is an American photographer, living and working in Birmingham, Alabama.Isaacs studied pinhole photography with Pinky Bass. He has worked both with commercial and art photography. He works with photography seminars and teaches classes and workshops across the US.He has involved himself...
, Karen GraffeoKaren GraffeoKaren Graffeo is an American artist based in Birmingham, Alabama. While specializing in photography, Graffeo is also a choreographer and installation artist. Early in her photography career, she worked as Jerry Uelsmann's assistant and model...
, Janice KlugeJanice KlugeJanice Kluge is an American artist who specializes in large and small scale sculpture. She hold a BFA with honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and an MFA for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kluge is Professor Emeritus of sculpture and drawing at the University of Alabama...
, Pinky BassPinky BassPinky M. M. Bass is an American photographer, known for her work in pinhole photography.Bass, a resident of Fairhope, Alabama, has exhibited at a number of museums including the Ashville Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta,...
, Mona HatoumMona HatoumMona Hatoum is a video artist and installation artist of Palestinian origin, who lives in London.- Lebanon :...
, Beatrice Coron. The exhibition was curated by Jon CoffeltJon CoffeltJohnny Lee Coffelt born is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City. Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts and curates art exhibitions.-Background:...
and Maddy RosenbergMaddy RosenbergMadeline Rosenberg is an American artist who divides her time between Brooklyn and Europe. She has an active exhibition and freelance curatorial career and is now the director of Central Booking in DUMBO, Brooklyn, New York. Rosenberg received a BFA from Cornell University and her MFA from Bard...
for Central Booking in Brooklyn, NY. - John Davis Gallery, 2009
- In 2010 Armstrong was selected to be part of "'A Reader's Art,'" curated by Jon CoffeltJon CoffeltJohnny Lee Coffelt born is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City. Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts and curates art exhibitions.-Background:...
for Susan Hensel Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. This was a 10 year survey of artist's books including works by Pinky BassPinky BassPinky M. M. Bass is an American photographer, known for her work in pinhole photography.Bass, a resident of Fairhope, Alabama, has exhibited at a number of museums including the Ashville Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta,...
, Janice KlugeJanice KlugeJanice Kluge is an American artist who specializes in large and small scale sculpture. She hold a BFA with honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and an MFA for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kluge is Professor Emeritus of sculpture and drawing at the University of Alabama...
, Joan Lyons, Qi peng, Luce, Beatrice Coron, Buzz Spector and Mary Ann SampsonMary Ann SampsonMary Ann Sampson is an American artist living and working in Ragland, Alabama. Sampson is a Book artist, specializing in miniatures and broadsides most of which are uniques or one-of-a-kinds. She explores the book as a means of expressing visual ideas that stem from recollections of personal...
. This exhibition included a catalogue.
Quotes
- "In the Airplayer series of Sara Garden Armstrong, one can observe a growing mastery of multifaceted media and the inclusion of increasingly sophisticated technologies. Large hand-made paper forms, hoses, blower boxes and sound are elements in the language she uses, always articulated within the parameters of a given installation space. In her later works, one can see a shift from mechanical to electronic controls of the air sounds-reminiscent of sea and wind-and an increase in the artist's mix of "real" and digital. Wire mesh and paper forms have become powerful humanoid shapes and, when combined with movement and sound, suggest the basic mechanisms of life support and human functions. The artist does not hesitate to seek collaboration with technical specialists and in so doing has accelerated the development of her art. -Anna Campbell Bliss, "Explorers", LEONARDO, Vol.28, No. 4, pp. 239–242, 1994
- “Sara Garden Armstrong utilizes the effects of ocean tides to show us contour in the waters edge, a graceful play of the ebb and flow of the universe itself and in disparate areas in our own lives.” -Jon CoffeltJon CoffeltJohnny Lee Coffelt born is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City. Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts and curates art exhibitions.-Background:...
for "'Contour: The Definitive Line,'" Schedler Minchin Gallery, Birmingham AL - “When Art meets Technology and the marriage works, the magic can hardly be contained. So we have in Airplayers by Sara Garden Armstrong a remarkable translation of a large sculptural environment into a book, a video, and a reduced-in-scale sculptural environment housed in a handcrafted box.” -Judith HoffbergJudith HoffbergJudith Hoffberg was a librarian, archivist, lecturer, a curator and art writer, and editor and publisher of Umbrella, a newsletter on artists' books, mail art, and Fluxus art. She received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1956. She went on to get an M.A. in Italian Language and Literature...
, HIGH PERFORMANCE Airplayers: A New Book Form Born of Technology - Utilizing the notion of the trace, as a visual indication of the passing of time, these wall-sized works engage the viewer in a subtle contemplation; whereby the past and the present seem to share the same moment.” -Michael Macinnis, 'The New York Art World, M, June/August 1999
Artist's books
- "'Airplayer Book,'" New York: Willis, Locker, & Owens, 1990; 21x15 cm, edition of 1,000. ISBN 0-930279-17-4
- "'Airplayers: MULTIPLE,'" New York: Willis, Locker & Owens, 1990; 28 x 33 x 14 cm, edition of 65 variable copies; signed and numbered
- "'Fragile Connections,'" New York, 1992; 28 x 11.5 cm, edition of 200 variable copies, signed and numbered
- "'Messages from Home,'" New York, 1994; 23 x 29 cm, edition of 40 variable copies, signed & numbered
- "'Interiors.'" New York, 1997; 10 x 32 cm, edition of 25 variable copies, signed & numbered
- "'Shadow Presences,'" New York, 2010, edition of 20 copies, signed & numbered
Collections
Armstrong's work is included in collections nationally and internationally among them Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London, UK, MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
in New York City, WAAND "Women Artists Archives National Directory, Ira Silverberg Papers, Sun and Moon Press Archive, Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry
External links
- Sara Garden Armstrong Official website
- Armstrong's Artist Statement