MEET

SARAH SULLIVAN SHERROD

Sarah Sullivan Sherrod is a textile artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sarah combines her background of weaving, painting, and color theory to create work that celebrates the importance of play, as seen in both her process and aesthetic. Bound by the limits of the loom and materials, Sarah welcomes a heavy dose of improvisation to the rest of her practice. Each phase of creation is like a game itself, using the conversations between colors and shapes to complete the puzzle of the final work. 

Through the combination of handwoven textiles and paint, Sarah Sullivan Sherrod plays with the balance of textures, the conversations between colors, and the connections made by shapes.

What do you hope people will take away from your work?

I had an experience recently where someone whom I consider extremely literal had a profound reaction to one of my pieces. It was an especially abstract piece, yet they saw something in the abstraction that was wholly personal to them. I rarely get that reaction from adults, but I often get it from children. So I guess, I want people to tap into that abstract kid brain and let their minds be more wild and open.

- Sarah Sullivan Sherrod

Where do you find inspiration?

Oh gosh, what a question. On the one hand, I'm quite literally always analyzing the colors around me. It's a constant obsession. But also, I find I don't know what I'm going to make until I'm sitting down at the loom with my materials. So I guess it's a combination of the two. I start with a color in mind that's currently swirling in my brain and then bring it to the loom to improvise and see what that color has to say. From there, it's just a constant back-and-forth between color and materials.

- Sarah Sullivan Sherrod