Sarah Gross

Bio

Sarah Gross grew up in a small apartment in densely populated New York City. Her work explores physical closeness and emotional distance. Her ceramic sculpture and installation reveals a discomfort with, and longing for intimacy. She earned her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BA from Carleton College. She has completed residencies at c.r.e.t.a Rome, Green Olive Arts, Morocco, Greenwich House Pottery, and the Lawrence Arts Center. Sarah shows her work nationally and internationally and is included in numerous collections including the U.S. Department of State, The University of Costa Rica, and the Shiwan Ceramics Museum in Foshan, China. Sarah is an Associate Professor of Visual Art at the University of Kansas.

Artist Statement

Closeness does not establish intimacy. I grew up in New York City, always sharing space with people I did not know. The contradiction of physical density and emotional distance made me feel simultaneously alienated by and enamored with millions of strangers. I explore this conflict by making work that manifests invisible dividers and destabilizes familiar relationships, making the unknown known, and the known unknown. Inviting and forbidding, my work addresses issues of power, desire, vulnerability, and visibility. Through it, I disrupt familiar ideas about gender roles, sacred space and what it means to be the object of another’s gaze.

I am fascinated by the ways we project our values and act out our aspirations through so many of our activities—including how we dress, how we spend money, and how we decorate our homes. Floral arrangements and gardens have become sites of inquiry for me as I consider popular hobbies taken to extremes. My most recent work explores ideas of fertility, abundance, sexuality, and status through leaf and petal-covered vessel forms. These sculptural pieces are embedded with layers of desire and discomfort.