My art practice is rooted in the Performative. I believe that performance, in its sacred form, has the capacity to bring the human being closest to what it means to be human. This sentiment is at the heart of all my work, including my drawings and paintings. Though I strive for each mark to come from a place of integrity, I fail, and I fail, and I fail again. And once in a great while, a mark comes that feels real. I work from a wild passion that has no explanation.
Many of my paintings and drawings, including the Gathering series, are the result of direct visions. Art has been a way for me to remember and convey these experiences, as well as, occasionally, to communicate inside such experiences.
In the Ledger Lines series, I used natural indigo ink to transform a Vermont General Store ledger (1829-1830) with the repeating symbol of a line. I was inspired by the exquisite handwriting and meticulous record-keeping found throughout the ledger’s 400+ original pages. The pages, in their weathered beauty and once-mundane practicality, served as the perfect backdrop for each drawing. Some pages contain hundreds of lines. Others contain one line. While others contain shapes that began with the gesture of a line. As the book transformed, the form of the line transformed. The lines became a kind of language, a mark that beckoned me to come closer, only to trick me, dismantling my understanding of the line itself.
Bio:
Sarah H. Paulson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Since graduating with a BFA in Special Studies in Art from Syracuse University, she lived and worked as a performance artist in New York City for many years. While in NYC, she received a life-altering acupuncture treatment, during which she directly experienced the connection between art and spirituality. Shortly thereafter, she began studying alchemical acupuncture with her teacher as a way to inform her art practice. Years later, she received a Master of Acupuncture. Currently, as a student of an esoteric school and a mystical tradition of Love, Sarah travels to Maine on a regular basis for retreat, meditation, and deeper training within the heart. It is there that Sarah receives much of her inspiration and direction for her performances, drawings, and paintings. She lives and works in Putney, VT.