Update from the studio of Sarah Hearn

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Detail of "Accumulation" Installation at Kiosk Gallery: featured frescos: Altocumulus (top) and Stratofractus (bottom)

Happy Fall!

I am pleased to announce my solo exhibition "Accumulation" opening at Kiosk Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri tonight, October 21, 2016. Please join me for this evening's opening reception from 6-9PM. The work will be on display from now until November 10, 2016 with gallery hours Fridays from 12-6 and Saturdays from 12-4 and by appointment.

Artist Statement
For centuries people have struggled to accurately forecast the weather. In modern societies, many individuals appear to be detached from the weather, yet our dependence on it is obvious when we consider severe storms, extreme temperatures, drought and other natural disasters. Over a period of 44 months and 26 days, I photographed different cloud types occurring in the atmosphere. These photos were taken daily, sometimes multiple times a day. This time-based study of the clouds was a way of investigating my personal relationship with the weather while grounding me in the present conditions of each photograph taken. Pausing to observe the sky and document it became a daily ritual. Of the thousands of photographs, some are easily identifiable as specific cloud types found in weather field guides, yet many others represent skies in various states of change. The transient states of the clouds are what became most fascinating to me over time. After all, the weather is always shifting, culminating, disappearing—changing.

Over the next 12 months and 5 days I began the process of grouping, identifying and editing the thousands of images captured. From the mass of photographs, I distilled representations of the 27 most common cloud types that occur in the sky. For this body of work, an image of each specific cloud type has been transferred into a wet plaster onto the shape of its corresponding international weather symbol. Like the clouds, the plaster based fresco process is dependent on weather conditions for each panel to set properly. The act of transferring the images allows for subtle variations within the surface of the fresco, making each object, like each cloud- entirely unusual. The international weather symbols are useful worldwide to maritime travelers navigating the sea, or pilots navigating the sky, but their use is limited due to the sky’s constant states of flux. The power held in each symbol is transient and fleeting. Ultimately, this work indexes the unpredictable and powerful forces that dramatically affect all life on earth and invites you to take a look closer and more frequent look at the sky above.

Recent Exhibitions

Installation detail of my solo exhibition "Adaptations" at University of Central Missouri Gallery 115 on view through October 28, 2016.

Untitled Drawing #05, 10" x 15", 2016. 1 of 5 works included in the Flatfiles exhibition at H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute from June- September, 2016.

Screen grab from Natural Magic, 2016. This experimental, 3-minute, hand drawn animation and video was featured in the deadCenter Film Festival, "Slices" exhibition at Current Studio in Oklahoma City, OK June, 2016.

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Sarah Hearn Art