The Sarah Davis Art Academy

When looking back on which creative figures had the greatest impact on my growth in the field of creativity, my brain unsurprisingly automatically directs to my previous art teachers. During my high school years, I grew a great deal as an artist, which can be mostly owed to my art teacher Ms. Davis. Sarah Davis holds a special place in my heart as easily being one of the most creative persons I have ever met. 

"The Palm Beach-based artist Sarah Elizabeth Davis uses her native environment as a means of visual poetics to discuss the circumstance of modern women. Placing emphasis on landscape tradition and contemporary figurative painting, she explores themes of identification, worship and solitude in her work."

Art class quickly became my haven during the school day, as Sarah's teaching style included a perfect mixture of history, theory, small piece studies, en plein air exercises, observation exercises, guided practice, self-practice, and class critique time. I am unsure if such a breakdown of classtime is common among other high school art class curriculum, but her class seemed and still seems to be a very creative way to teach such a creativity-centered subject. Other exhibited classroom creativities of hers included effective artistic problem solving when something inevitably went wrong with a student's piece or using what classroom supplies we had in new ways in the absence of the proper tools. 

Sarah's work is inspiringly creative and her creative process is admirable for an artist. She works primarily with oil paints, though also pastel and acrylic. In many of her works she creates scenes from local natural settings and uses each setting's painted narrative to juxtapose with the idea of the 'modern' woman, while also proving that the existence of the modern woman pertains to both circumstance and belonging simultaneously. One of my favorite pieces of hers is titled "Totem Watch". This is a favorite because the light and shadow are fully juxtaposed within the totem, as well as the funky totem juxtaposed with the conservative landscape. The effect of these juxtapositions and color theory brings about thoughts on power as it pertains to the 'modern woman'. Does the modern woman come out on top? Can the modern woman remain there? And does the woman actually hold power or does it just appear that way? These are just a few of the many fun questions her works present.

I hope you enjoy and appreciate the creativity of her work as much as I do!