SARA MERKEL-JACOBS

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sara has been creating art since she was a young girl.  Her mother, also an artist, was instrumental in laying the foundation for a love of drawing and painting.  Sara’s work is an exploration of the lapse of time, the loss of life, and our need for human connections.  Nature is prevalent in her work and is a vehicle for discussing these ideas. 
Sara received her Bachelors degree in art from UW-Madison, and began her graduate studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.  She moved back to Madison in 2004 and resumed her graduate work at UW-Madison.  She will be receiving her MFA at the end of the coming summer. 

608-469-9731
samerkel@wisc.edu

SARA MERKEL-JACOBS has this to say about her work:

"My drawings are the result of investigation of myself and of the women in my family.  In my own anxiety about the brevity of life I have sought comfort in the connections between us.  I find solace in and am intrigued by the intensity and power of these relationships.  The intimacy of the women in my immediate and extended family (from both the long ago past and in the present) provides me with a sense of peace.  This sanctuary is what I convey. 

"I depict experiences and places that were significant to one or more of us and represent them so that they are suspended in time, there is an awareness of being and also a loss of being.  This is shown with partially transparent and diminishing figures.  The ambiguity of identity and absence of solidity reinforce the quick flowing onward of time and temporality of life.

"The dominant presence of nature is representative of the natural process of life and death.  It also has positive connotations in many of my memories with these women and so is a place of beauty and happiness for us. 

"In my process I use old black and white photos dating back to the late 19th century as well as current photos.  I take parts of their experiences and parts of my experiences and combine them, the result is a pull between and a cooperation of what is felt  and what is plainly visible.   I use their figures as well as my own and a combination of elements from different time periods.  This sharing of images is symbolic of the sharing of ideas and support that goes on amongst the women in my family and in many families."