SARAH SIMMONS

My artwork realizes and releases the untapped potential of objects, materials, and women by challenging their traditionally assigned purposes and roles. Rather than accept an object for its assumed function and discarding it when it is no longer useful, I challenge the viewer to see these materials as more than they expected.

Our use and throwaway society has boxed our goods and people into anticipated roles with limited lifespans of usefulness. We do not fix or repurpose the items that no longer work the way they were originally intended. We trivialize people who fill undervalued traditional societal functions as well as people who do not fit into accepted roles. My work claims these objects and people, elevating their perceived value through new narratives.

I adopt traditional tales, myths and expectations of women and the materials they frequently use, in unexpected ways flipping their stories and reclaiming their importance while altering their relevance. My work shows the value that exists past the point of expected use, where most people would discard or disregard the usefulness of the object or person.

I collect and reuse materials that are abandoned and allow them to tell their stories in a new way, setting free unrealized potential and disrupting stereotypical expectations relating to value and purpose. As a text based conceptual artist, books, text, and personal writings form the physical and philosophical foundation for most of my work. Because words have power, they can increase perceived worth and alter expected storylines. Using the transformative power of language allows me to reassign roles and to ask the viewer to examine objects and people differently.

I utilize materials and methods traditionally assigned to women or caregivers. Clothing, kitchen items, food, children’s toys, and sewing feature prominently in my work. My altered dresses reclaim and shift the importance of women as traditionally seen by society. Many of these garments give voice to the language of women directly through diaries and writing. Words can be worn as protective armor. When we claim words that are used as weapons against us, it diminishes the power of those words to inflict pain. My mixed media sculptures often take the form of books but use alternative materials like wood and fabric. Some sculptures manifest as objects like cake, each piece telling a bit of the story, emphasizing how something unsavory is often misrepresented as something palatable or even desirable. When I cut paper, I deliberately place and remove words and people from environments in order to reframe their stories, experiences, and importance.

Sarah Simmons is a fiber based conceptual artist and educator. She works to release the untapped potential of objects, materials, and people by challenging their traditionally assigned purposes and roles in her artwork. Rather than accept an object for its assumed purpose and discarding it when it is no longer useful, she challenges the viewer to see materials and people as more.

Sarah holds an Associate of Arts in studio art from Montgomery College in Maryland and a BFA with a concentration in metalsmithing and art education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Sarah is a member of Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors and Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. She has participated in exhibits with both organizations and also in exhibitions at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, The Brewhouse, Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Annemarie Sculpture Center, as well as with the Anthropology of Motherhood.

Sarah lives in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, where since 2016 she has grown her Bookgarden, a place where discarded books go to celebrate aging and experience unexpected self-transformation. Sarah is also a certified Orton Gillingham tutor who teaches dyslexic children to read and hopefully love books. She believes that words matter, how we communicate matters, and that literacy is a basic human right.

Featured in the AoM: Responding to the Overturn of Roe v. Wade 2022 virtual exhibition:

Hobbled, Sarah Simmons. Salvaged dresses, secondhand fabric, cemetery flags and flowers, wooden crutches, thread, wood, steel, 59 x 36 x 36 in.

Unprotected, Sarah Simmons. Digital Media (image of gavels spelling out F U C K)

On June 24 th , 2022, we all heard the U.S. Supreme Court Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Roberts as they officially reversed Roe V Wade, effectively eliminating the protection of body autonomy for anyone with a uterus. We heard them say it.
You aren’t worth protecting.
You aren’t capable of making decisions for your body.
You are only worth anything as a reproductive vessel.
You will stay in your place.
You will be hobbled.
We said FUCK.
We will not be hobbled.
We will not stay in ‘our place’.
Our worth is not tied to our reproductive capabilities.
We will make our own decisions.
We will not be unprotected.
We will protect each other.

Featured in the AoM: Culture of Care 2022 Three Rivers Arts Festival exhibition:

*Incubation/Eggs* (detail), Sarah Simmons, Salvaged materials, 57 x 24 x 32 in.

*Incubation/Eggs*, Sarah Simmons, Salvaged materials, 57 x 24 x 32 in.

Incubation/Eggs is made using salvaged materials. There are eggs that are wrapped in dictionary pages and tucked within the bodice of the dress as well as perched within the hands in the protected area under their skirt, while text and textile vines support and shield. The definition of incubation is 'the development of life through the provision of ideal conditions'. How do we work to create the most ideal conditions for life to be nurtured?

Featured in the AoM: Culture of Care Art Exhibition at Carlow Universtiy Art Gallery from 2020-2021:

Sarah Simmons.jpg — "*Scarecrow*," 3D sculpture: rake, flowers, plastic doilies, paint, dictionary pages, text, altered dress, Sarah Simmons, 2018

The way words are used- intentionally, deliberately, accidentally, impact the receiver of these words in extreme ways. Like our natural environment, words can nurture, and words can destroy. I use discarded materials because they contain a multitude of stories to tell from their rich and varied histories, as well as being more environmentally friendly.
I use text in my sculptures to investigate ways we communicate with written language. I transform discarded materials in unexpected ways, creating work that appears superfluous and pretty, but upon further examination carries serious and deliberate meaning.

At the heart of my work lies unending curiosity and investigation into verbal, visual and written communication. My work researches and represents the varied perspectives and experiences individuals bring to the way they interpret and interact with the environment and the people around them. The way words are used- intentionally, deliberately, accidentally- impact the receiver of these words in extreme ways. Like our natural environment, words can nurture, and words can destroy. I collect materials from secondhand stores and from other people’s unwanted garbage. Many times, the unexpected interaction of two unrelated items will spark a new idea, such as a metal butcher’s apron and a handwritten journal. My sculpture falls into three main categories: altered dresses, smaller works, and the Bookgarden project. Works involving altered dresses typically begin with a text-based material like packaging, or a book, which I incorporate as a repeating pattern on a wearable garment. My smaller works also use text, and typically involve the reworking of everyday objects, or the representation of everyday objects in different materials. Some sculptures incorporate sewing and fiber to create books, or even pieces of cake. Other works ask the viewer to participate by adding their own words, phrases, and physical touch. I am intrigued by how our individual use of language elicits varied perceptions. I use discarded materials because they are sustainable and contain a multitude of stories to tell from within their rich history.

Sarah Simmons lives and works in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Sarah’s work has been exhibited at Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Minnesota Center for Book Art, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media, as well as other venues in western Pennsylvania, including a Contemporary Craft’s BNY Mellon Satellite Gallery.
Sarah holds a BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in Jewelry and Metalsmithing and an AA in Studio Art from Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.
Sarah is a children’s programming assistant at Moon Township Public Library, where she promotes literacy, art and science. As the library’s resident artist, Sarah creates seasonal and themed displays from discarded materials. Sarah also works as a dyslexia tutor at Laughlin Children’s Center.