STATEMENT
Art making is my sieve for experiencing the world. Consequently, place often affects my direction. While on a 2007 Fulbright residency In Finland, I studied the rich heritage of Scandinavian design. This research led to further simplified forms. Natural objects are magnified and cropped until they become otherworldly. Like a 19th century naturalist, I often sketch and paint flora and fauna on site. Design considerations are evident through the implementation of graphic line, negative space, actual texture, and limited color. More recent trips to Japan have also had an important impact on my work. Personally, I grew up on the beaches of south Florida and Texas. Ecological concerns are an important aspect to my studio practice. Recently, in my Gowanus Canal project, as part of a Central Booking and New York Historical Society collaboration, I created a screen printed artist book with an accompanying stop motion animation. The book focused on my impressions of the Canal’s history and my own personal experiences. A series of sketches of the Canal, done on site, were part of the project, as well. Large installations have also been part of my studio practice. In my Snow Shadows project at Art Pace in San Antonio, Texas. I incorporated paper cut-outs, backlit by LED lights, with paintings of local flora killed by the Winter Storm Uri of 2021. Overall, a cast of mutant fish, frozen plants, and dancing mollusks populate my art. These characters, like myself, are skipping or stumbling through a dystopic world.
BIOGRAPHY
Sabra Booth presently resides in San Antonio, Texas. She is an MFA graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and a BFA graduate from the University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Before attending graduate school, she was an assistant to Tamarind trained master printers at the Houston Fine Art Press. She lived in New York, for five years, teaching in the public schools and for several non-profit organizations, such as the Lower East Side Printshop. Early experiences on the beaches of south Florida and her present exploration of the Texas landscape affect her artistic vision. Booth’s studio practice offers interpretative observations of nature, while addressing complex ecological issues. Working in a variety of mediums, she uses drawing, mixed media, printmaking, and stop motion animation. Recent study abroad travels in Japan and a Fulbright Mid- Career Professional Grant to Finland in 2007, both have had a great impact on her work. In 2023, she will have a solo exhibition at KSpace Contemporary in Corpus Christi, Texas. Also in 2023, she exhibited in On the Waterfront, A View from the Coast (Line), a Central Booking and New-York Historical Society project. She was awarded an Individual Artist Grant 2022 by the Department of Arts’; Culture, City of San Antonio, which funded her project, Snow Shadows: Winter Storm Uri. In 2020, she had a solo retrospective exhibition, Hot Pursuit: A Visual Commentary on Climate Change, at Bihl Haus Arts in San Antonio.
Sabra Booth’s Website
