About Sarah,

Described as a ‘scrounger’ by Christine Morrow (MCA curator 2009), Sarah Nolan sources forms by scavenging both physical materials and ideas. As the term implies, there is a craftiness to this method, that, unlike working with found objects, involves selectively seeking out materials to refashion rather than compile. It is this difference that identifies an approach that searches for the potential in discarded materials, matching them to half-remembered ideas and memories. It is this blending of reference and material that allows Sarah’s work to exceed both. The ultimate objective is to search for work that avoids prescribing what the viewer should think. Meaning comes from observing.

Over the years, Sarah’s practice has assumed various incarnations of this approach. Grounded in her training and experience as a graphic designer before computers, Sarah’s practice continues to draw on this early experience in presenting ideas, preparing typography and finished art.

Sarah’s practice has evolved since her first few exhibitions, which presented collages made from printed matter and found objects from the streets. The combination of materials aimed at creating implied meanings, tinged with a subtle and dark sense of humour, continues to inform her work.

In the late 1990s, Sarah’s scrounging led to her collecting observations of people encountered or watched on the streets. The resulting work transformed these immaterial ‘found objects’ into graphic word poems, with text constructed of modelling paste rupturing a surface covered in graduated chalk pastels. This series was exhibited at West Space Inc. in 2000.

The next transformation in Sarah’s work came from inheriting her mother’s fabric collection and sewing box. Referencing the mock-ups developed during an earlier time working in a graphic design studio, this next phase of work resulted in assemblages of hand-sewn fabric. Using a single word ‘scrounged’ from listening to sports commentators describing footballers, and motifs sourced from well-known artists’ works that she also considered her ‘art heroes’, such as David Hockney’s landscapes that featured a ‘sprinkler’ or a ‘splash’. These pairings were a slightly tongue-in-cheek commentary on the attention and praise given to the artists compared to athletes. One of the works used the word ‘WARRIOR’ which was sewn to the background of a recognisable Jasper Johns target motif. This series of A4-sized hand-sewn homages was her entry point into the commercial gallery scene of 2007.

Her second solo show at Harrison Galleries, titled ‘Damien and me’, was a further exploration of an artist and their approach to art making and the broader international art market. Through exploring the iconic dot paintings of Damien Hirst, Sarah also chose to produce a large quantity of dot works, achieving thirty hand-sewn works of various sizes and configurations - albeit without the assistance of other artists.

Sarah’s third solo show at Harrison Galleries adopted a more deliberately sardonic tone, placing a single word on heavily decorated hand-sewn ‘pennants’. Each word, sourced from overheard conversations or sampled from feedback on artworks, acknowledges an art world where, paradoxically, expressing yourself comes with unspoken limits on the freedom to do so. The inference being one never declares oneself also opens a space for others to interpret and decide what they are looking.

In 2011 Sarah moved into arts curation through managing a window gallery. Under the banner of branch3d, Sarah used this space to showcase local and national artists' installations to a passing audience. This activity culminated in her curating a group show of fourteen artists exhibited throughout the entire house. This event, titled, Bunkered was included in the 2014 Sydney Fringe’s program.

branch3d evolved into a walk-in space in 2015 in a building down the road from the original window gallery. This space eventually pivoted into a vintage shop specialising in ceramics and garden-related items. Progressively, curating this business turned into a full-time activity.

Like so many people, Covid instigated a moment that resulted in winding down the business and returning to curation, with the front space of the retail premises becoming a space to, once again, exhibit the work of local makers and artists. Although deciding to close this venue to return to making her own work, these past exhibitions can be viewed on this website and the linked Instagram account @sarah_nolan_misc. Having reconnected with her art practice, Sarah is now making sculptures using papier mache and 3D printing.

Beyond her practice, Sarah obtained a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Art to Young Children 2004 to further work in state primary schools. The authorship of a comprehensive term-based art program to be used by teachers on an ongoing basis, evidence the extent of this commitment to arts education and mentoring teachers.

She has also volunteered and worked in various arts organisations which was also a form of research and insight into the Sydney based ‘art world’.

CV