Sarah: An Ode to Women Artist Interview
Inspiring others to discover their own unique stories in her work
Sarah Robbins is an illustrator, painter and designer living and working in Seattle. Her studio is filled with old LIFE Magazines, maps, vintage packaging, and faded thrift store paintings (you know the ones), and a lot of those themes bleed into her work. We chatted with Sarah about her love of art, the outdoors, road trips, and inspiring others to discover their own unique stories in her work.
PV: What drew you to art?
Sarah: Honestly I have no idea what drew me to art, it’s just always been a part of my life. I’ve been making things ever since I can remember and I think I just like the idea of creating something from nothing, and the power that comes with that.
PV: How does art “fill your cup”? What inspires you to dive deep into this medium?
Sarah: There’s a problem solving aspect to art, which makes it like a puzzle for me to figure out. How do I convey a message or feeling in a visual way using different project parameters (size, medium, tools, etc.)? There’s a moment when things click together and that’s super satisfying to me. I also really love the fact that artists can use this form of expression in whatever way they like. I have never been someone who had this grand vision they wanted to share with the world. Instead, I like using art as a way to open up those visions and stories in other people. I like creating the bones of a story, straddling that line between specificity and ambiguity so others can put their own ideas and experiences into the work to get something completely different out of it than I would have.
PV: Inspiration can exist in so many places and so many different ways. And there’s sort of this flux and fluidity to it. A single experience or brief moment can impact us for a lifetime. What are some influences that show up in your art?
Sarah: Traveling is pretty huge for me, there’s such a sense of awe and relief that comes with being outdoors and seeing someplace new. I never understood the people who don’t share that urge to see the amazing places that surround us, even just here in the Pacific Northwest.
As far as my work, traveling plays a huge part, but probably not in the most obvious of ways. I would take long trips and drive around to take all of these photos while not really knowing why. I would be drawn to things like the sides of houses, plants, bridges, signage, water, rocks, etc. None of these photos were anything to write home about and I just kept them on my computer for years and years. Over time I realized what was behind that urge–that I just was really drawn to combinations of things and how that imagery, patterning, texturing, etc. can all speak to each other in one visual. I didn’t realize at the time, but I was slowly creating a catalog of these puzzle pieces I could eventually use in my work.
I remember catching glimpses of these little cropped portions of the world and I would have to turn the car around and go snag a photo. Think an old rusty motel sign next to some funky cypress tree in front of those cool mid-century patterned cement blocks—I’m all about those sorts of combos. The mix of textures and the way nature and the man-made world talk to each other always gets me.
PV: Thanks for taking us up on the opportunity to show your love for Peace Vans! How did you go about designing an art piece for us?
Sarah: For the Peace Vans piece I knew I wanted to create a cluster of elements that was compiled into a tight lockup, but one that also retained a lot of movement—like a self-contained camper van making its way around the country! Visually, it all started with the van, and then I built a scene around it, incorporating some West Coast and Pacific Northwest vibes. Intuition and gut-feeling definitely played a role; mostly I just kept doodling until a piece clicked and then I kept building from there. It’s always important for every element to feel considered, even if it’s just a quick squiggly shape. It’s all about balance and how everything relates to each other.
PV: This campaign is a collaboration dream for us. We get to highlight some of our favorite female artists and support the female-empowered mission of SheJumps—all on National Women’s Equality Day. SheJumps works to unearth the potential of all women and girls—cisgender, transgender, as well as non-binary people who identify with the women’s community—through outdoor play and connection to nature. What about this mission resonates with you?
Sarah: This is an incredible mission! I think stripping everything down to focus on connecting to nature has the power to inevitably show you who you are and what you care about. There’s a lightness and freedom that comes with it and SheJumps really creates that safe space for members of the women’s community to explore that in themselves.
PV: We’ve all had those moments in nature where we’re in complete awe of our surroundings. There’s this interconnectedness that makes us feel whole. How have experiences in nature transformed you?
Sarah: Growing up I was very much an outdoor kid, and I think that really empowered me to be very independent at an early age. Every day after school I would spend my time exploring the woods behind my house. Some days I would grab a bucket and a net, sit on this rickety little wooden platform, drag my net across the bottom of the pond and then dump out its contents to dig through to see what I could find. Frogs, crayfish, water bugs, you name it—I was into it. I got my hands dirty, connected with my surroundings and learned how to do things for myself. Talking about it now as an adult, it seems like such a trivial thing, but having that relationship with nature, even on that small level, really impacted me as a person.
PV: We love a good road trip story. Share a favorite road trip experience with us!
Sarah: Whew, there’s been a few. In college I took a trip with my best friend Jordan all around the South. It was basically a loop from Washington DC to New Orleans and back, going through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, etc. We had an Ikea foam mattress in the back of my car, zero plans and a college student budget. We learned pretty quickly which hotel parking lots had free wifi and which ones needed a room code.
The trip was about a year after Hurricane Katrina and we had snuck into an abandoned amusement park outside of New Orleans to spend the day walking around looking at the devastation in such an eerie setting. It was incredible to see.
Later that day we stopped at a gas station and proceeded to make the most amazing road trip sandwich of our lives: cheap white bread, gas station fried okra, 50-cent “chef’s special” pepper jack cheese, and pickles—all topped with an assortment of sauce packets we had collected along the way. We had a lot of unbelievable food on that trip through the South, but that sandwich was the one that I’ll always remember.
Learn more about Sarah’s work: sarah-robbins.com
Connect with Sarah: @sarah_robbins