Old Iowa Story Painting

Artist Statement My work breaks down complex human experiences to divulge what parts of them are pertinent. I seek to separate filler from essence and to be left with what is important. I think that there is great importance on focusing on that which is real and noting the role of that which is fabled as the levees that they are against realities both pleasant and uncomfortable. Biography Sarah Lapp grew up in small towns in Wyoming where her earliest connection to art as a means of communication was found in the illustrations of children’s books. The art that was present in her area of rural Wyoming was non diverse, strictly representational, and for the most part, it’s creation was a mystery as it lacked definitive brushstrokes, or signs of the hand. One exception to this was the bright and dynamic graffiti that traveled along on the box cars of the trains that constantly traversed the desolate Wyoming landscape. Sarah found an emotive quality and energy in them, and they stuck in her mind as haunting evidence that there were people living, creating and passionate about something in worlds that seemed so different from her own. Graffiti and illustration remain among the things that inform her work. Sarah’s current work investigates how cultural iconography is created and how humans distract themselves from or manipulate reality with this phenomena. Sarah received her undergraduate degree in Studio art from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg Virginia in 2010. She is currently pursuing her MFA at Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts. AWARDS 2015: In The Light National Exhibit: Juried by BJ Kocen and Jennifer Glave, Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA, Second place June 2015 Regional Exhibit: Juried by Joseph DiBella, Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA, Second place 2015: Uniquely Fredericksburg: Juried by JeanAnn Dabb, Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredericksburg, VA, First place 2015: Celebrate Color and Form National Exhibit: Juried by Margery E.