Sarah Barrick

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What appeals most to you about making what you make? Why do you make things? I started making pendants using my photo based mandalas to make my art more accessible to the public. I love printing my mandalas as large format photos and have received a great response from the community when they’ve seen the big prints, but not everyone can afford to spend hundreds of dollars on art for their home. My mandalas keep their intriguing and meditative nature at a smaller size and I’ve really been enjoying making wearable art!

How do you find inspiration? Nature is my first and foremost source of inspiration. The curves of the human body and the textures found in the forests of the Pacific Northwest inform all of my mandalas.

How do you prepare for creating something? When it’s time to star a new body of work, my ideas always start on paper. I envision a concept and what I want to create visually to represent that concept. I write a stream of consciousness list to come up with execution plans. I execute some of the ideas but some always get left behind in my journal to be explored in the future.

What problems do you encounter in your art practice; how do you solve them? A lot of problems or mistakes sometimes transform into ‘happy accidents’ when it comes to photography. My jewelry making is still evolving as I search to find the perfect combination of paper, ink, metal, wax and glass to result in a sharp photographic image to be worn around the neck.