Sarah Sanford

Sarah Sanford (b. 1974) is a California-based artist and art educator whose practice incorporates photography, printmaking, drawing, and installation to create hidden worlds of biological landscapes and scientific abstractions. Capturing the physical nature of light is a dominant component of the imagery she creates. Drawn to its ethereal properties and transient nature, her work explores themes of the passage of time, impermanence, and interconnectedness.

Sanford’s work bridges micro- and macrocosmic worlds, serving as a reflection on the complexities of our existence and the mysteries of life. Trained as a printmaker, she employs traditional and alternative media and processes. Using light-reflective pigments with translucent materials and dimensional formats, her work challenges our perceptions by engaging the viewer beyond the two-dimensional surface. In her recent work, Sanford combines upcycled prints, inkjet overlay, dimensional collage, and natural ephemera to delve into the modern crisis of dis-enchantment. Taking the form of mini altars and installations, these works contemplate moments of love and loss, celebrating the mundane, the overlooked, and the forgotten. Engaging our human tendency to seek meaning in the unknown, the work invites us to rekindle our curiosity, awe, and wonder through our connections with the natural world.

Sanford has exhibited her work for over 20 years, both nationally and internationally, with participation in exhibitions across the USA and the UK. She has held residencies in the USA, UK, and France, and has been featured in several print publications. Sanford is a faculty member in the Art Department at UC Santa Cruz and holds a B.S. in Arts Education from Case Western Reserve University & The Cleveland Institute of Art, and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland. She works out of her studio in Bonny Doon, CA, in the Santa Cruz Mountains.


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