Sara Silks
Member Spotlight - June 2018
- Where did you grow up, and where do you live now?
I often joke that I was born, raised, and branded in Kansas City, which was best known for being a cattle town at one point in history.
Family circumstances and needs kept me near home, and I attended the University of Kansas for undergraduate BA degrees in Visual Arts and Art History, and my MA in Art History. The Kansas City Art Institute and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art were both important resources for me as a child and also figured in my education. I still live on the outskirts of the city and have my studio in my home.
- Why did you join TPS, and how long have you been involved?
As I expanded my practice as a visual artist, I noticed that a great number of artists whose work I admired belonged to TPS. I investigated and saw the wonderful opportunities it provided, so I joined and entered the Annual Member’s Only Show in 2015 that Keith Carter juried. He selected the following image for that show, which thrilled me to no end.
- Why did you become a photographer, and where do you find inspiration or motivation for your work?
My mother always encouraged my artistic learnings, and I became the family paparazzi at an early age. I remember my great joy in capturing the image of my diva older sister with orange juice cans as rollers in her hair, and it hooked me. My work matured with time, and I include drawing, painting, and printmaking among my interests.
The inspiration for my work comes from the geography and topography around me, both literally and metaphorically. I am always taking photographs, and as response to what is happening around me, the work appears, forms, and refines.
- How would you describe your photography and/or working process?
The images that excite me the most are the ones in which some kind of visual tension is created by the elements within the image. Sometimes these are straight photographs, other times it could be in a combination of photographs.
I would describe my work as both project and process based. Because I am always taking photographs, when I sketch or journal, I revisit these visual moments as my tiny diary of memories and history. I begin with an idea, and then let the creative process take over, trusting that something magical will happen. I get a great sense of “completion” when I know an image is just right, the light in the image is perfect, and it is finished.
- Please tell us about your most recent photographic work.
Five years ago I took an Advanced Alternative Processes workshop with Christopher James at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. His mentorship and the fabulous alternative photographic work that I saw at the Verve Gallery (Josephine Sacabo, Elizabeth Opalenik, Jennifer Schlesinger, Caitlin Soldan) inspired and motivated me to continue my studies in alternative processes.
The series, “Studies of Women” is ongoing and evolving, and I have chosen the process used in each piece intentionally, to add to its meaning. Each image includes the results of my studies in fragility, vulnerability, and determination, and is particularly relevant in the “Me Too” culture that has become a new social awareness.
For a glimpse of my current work in the studio, visit my Instagram.