Sarah Irwin - Fine Artist
Hacketts Cove, Nova Scotia

I have always been a compulsive maker.  To produce an object has been the solvent for a curious, racing mind since I was very young.  When I realized many of my ideas were difficult to explain in words and that I was often the only one who cared if they came into existence or not, I knew I was an artist. I graduated from Georgian College in Ontario and then NSCAD in Halifax.  Both of these educational adventures were incredible, and they left me haunted with the knowledge that you can not learn enough when it comes to art.  Since 2001 I have been in Nova Scotia finding, salvaging, and reinventing objects.  Nothing gets my muse going better than a forgotten box of clutter.  Or a blank canvas.  Or the uncarved block.  Or, best of all a phone call from someone who needs a creative project accomplished.
Curriculum Vite -Sarah Irwin
Education
BFA, Fine Art Interdisciplinary 2003  Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, NS
Honors, Fine Art Diploma 2001 Georgian College, Barrie, ON
Design Fundamentals Diploma 1999  Georgian College, Barrie , ON

Solo Shows
November  2017 A Cattharsis  Irwin Gallery  Hacketts Cove, NS
May 2016 An Island Somewhere New Paintings, Lee Contemporary, Orillia ON
May 2013 Hammered-New Sculptures, Andrea Redmond Gallery
February 2013 The Wee Tree Button Project, fundraiser
September 2012 Reassembled, Jo Beale Gallery
June 2011 New Paintings, Jo Beale Gallery
October 2010 New Paintings, Tantallon Public Library
May 2010 the Fine Line - A Two Dimensional Exhibit in Three Places, Jo Beale Gallery
January 2009  Parts of The Process, Tantallon Public Library
May 2008 Reinventing the Imaginary Tree, Jo Beale Gallery
June 2005 Awkwardly Beautiful, Od Red Schoolhouse, Peggy's Cove
March 2004 Stoneflakes on Common Things, The Manor Gallery, Halifax
October 2002  Stones I Have Known, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD U

Group Exhibitions
March 2016 New work in Metal and Paint, Art 1274 Hollis, Halifax NS
August 2014  Earth Wind Fire, Art 1274 Hollis, Halifax, NS
June 2014  1000 Ways to Look at Things, Jo Beale Gallery, Glen Margaret, NS
June 2002  In Advance of Metal, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD U, Halifax
Summer 2001  Endless summer, Zephyr Gallery, Orillia, ON
March 2001  Chiaroscuro, Campus Gallery, Georgian college, Barrie , ON
November 2001  White Chocolate, Zephyr Gallery, Orillia, ON
August 1999  Atmosphere, shilling Gallery, Rama ON

Related Experience
Finalist for Kingsbrae Gardens Canadian Sculpture Competition, 2014
Administrator of The Wee Gallery at The Finer Diner, Hacketts Cove
Co-President of The Peggy's Cove Area Festival of the Arts Society, 2013
Art Instructor at The Creation Station, Head of St. Margaret's Bay, NS
Past Instructor for NSCAD's Continuing Education Department Halifax, NS
Past instructor for MacLaren Art Center's Van Go Program Barrie ON
Past member of Zephyr Gallery for Working Artists, Orillia ON
Member of Art 1274 Hollis Cooperative Gallery, Halifax, NS

Commissions
2011 Played, in collaboration with Camerata Xara Young Women's Choir, Halifax, NS
2010 Tree of Life, in collaboration with Camerata Xara Young women's Choir, Halifax, NS
2009 Mural for Jeremy's Bay Campground, Kejimkujik National Park, NS
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Awards
Simcoe County Arts and Crafts Association Excellence in Sculpture Scholarship, 2001
Georgian college Printmaking Award of Merit, 2001
Georgian College 3rd Year Fine Arts Graduate Scholarship, 2001
Barrie Art Club Scholarship, 2000 
I’m attracted to organic forms, things worn by nature, and concepts of growth and decay.   I love the idea that a common object can become something completely new.  Art is all around us if we pay attention; it’s just waiting to be reintegrated back into the world. 
​This collection of interests is constantly turning into paintings, ink drawings, assemblages, prints, and stone sculpture.  Imagination is a skill many of us unlearn as we age, my job as the artist is to remind people of this. If I have increased a sense of wonder I have succeeded.