Sarah Darlene
San Diego Tour
August 2022
Denver-based artist Sarah Darlene explores the functionality of abstraction in self-transformation and healing. While she primarily identifies as a painter, Darlene often works beyond traditional painting methods by exploring new materials with an intuitive, gestural, and mindfulness-based approach. Her process is rooted in body awareness, femininity, and queer identity, which has been informed through her yoga practice and meditation training with author Rev. angel Kyoto williams. Darlene’s current work replaces paint with recycled clothing, some from her own closet, and uses meditative hand stitching to create “fabric paintings.” This series echoes Abstract Expressionist compositions and concepts while simultaneously referencing the body, meditation practice, and ritual.
Darlene holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Louisiana State University, and an Executive Certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Notre Dame. She studied at the New York Studio School under painter Graham Nickson in 2010, and became a member of Strangers Art Collective in Santa Fe, NM in 2015. Since moving to Denver, Sarah has collaborated with dozens of nonprofits to bring arts education and wellness programs to various communities across Colorado. Sarah was an Artist in Residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver from 2020 - 2022 where she participated in social justice arts programming in schools and community centers. Sarah is currently teaching meditative painting classes with partners like the Denver Art Museum, with goals to continue to integrate meditation into art spaces across the community.
Sarah (right) poses with Jen on the beach.
In her Artist Ode for her travels to San Diego with The Wayfaring Band in August 2022, she used a blue and white beach blanket as the base of the painting, which she purchased from a local beachfront store and used throughout their adventures on the trip.