Sarah Rutherford
The starving-artist-waiting-tables-in-Manhattan thing. The artists-colonizing-an-old-brick-building thing. The elegant-opening-night-reception thing.
Sarah’s done them all. And she’s only just begun.
"My Meatland," 2008-09, from a series of drawings that combined with collaging drawings, decorative paper, dress patterns and wheat paste on found platters or old frames.Her work tends toward portraiture, but the media vary widely.
“I've been exploring different techniques,” she says. “I’m currently doing a lot of work with ink on watercolor paper and acrylics on birch wood.”
After finishing college at the University of Vermont in 2006, she headed for Manhattan for a time. But today, Sarah happily calls Rochester home.
“Even during my two years in this city, I have seen more and more interesting work and people popping up,” she says.
Sarah’s studio in the Hungerford building—a hulking brick complex filled with loft and gallery space—has been her setting for creative inspiration. And convergence.
“It overlooks the train yard and is everything I've ever imagined a studio could be,” she says. “I have also stumbled upon some really wonderful fellow artists while here.”
Among the artists she’s connected with through her Hungerford space is a group of five collaborators collectively known as Sweet Meat Co.
“Sweet Meat Co. came together last fall with the intention of throwing a different type of art event,” Sarah says. “We rented a space in the Hungerford building, and for one month we worked collectively within the space, using many found and foraged items.”
SarahBesides her fine art pursuits, Sarah is gaining momentum as a commercial illustrator. In fact, life came full-circle for her recently when a New York restaurant where she once waited tables rehired her.
Sarah’s illustrations decorate the new cookbook from Frankie’s Spuntino, a restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where she worked as a server after college.This time, to illustrate their new cookbook.
“Over the next nine months, I completed 120 drawings done with rapidograph pens on illustration board, meant to mimic older etchings found in manuals,” she says.
“Having waitressed for almost nine years—four of them full time—it felt wonderful to combine my relationship with food and art.”
Yep. That drawing-on-your-experience thing?
She's got that down, too.
See more: sarahrutherford.net, Sarah on Facebook, sweetmeatco.com
Say hi: s.c.rutherford@gmail.com
* * *
If you’re in the Rochester, NY, area Aug. 6, Sarah’s newest art show debuts in an opening reception, 6-9 p.m. at the Daniel Ward Salon, 721 University Ave.