Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Malone Smith.
Hi Sarah Malone, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story…. wow well that’s always an interesting question because it feels so huge but y’know as cliche as it may sound, I believe I came into this world as an artist. I didn’t have the guts to define myself as one until I started going to legit “art school” because I thought being considered a true artist meant that you had pieces in the Louvre or Tate Modern and you were a household name… but now I don’t think that at all. When you’re a kid you can take anything around you and become someone else or be transported somewhere else, at least that’s how it was for me. Making potions in the bath tub, molding baked goods in the back yard with dirt…. anything to explore; to create something from whatever you had. I started painting from a young age and unlike most, I didn’t like canvas (I still don’t) and I preferred scrap wood (still do, just not with paint as much). It felt like less of a serious commitment and more of an adventure. Which is exactly what art is to me; an adventure and life’s journey. So you could say my adventure with art began with childhood but really blossomed when I decided to face myself and my passions. It took getting into a bit of trouble in college to realize that I was playing a role that was never for me and life wasn’t going to be having any of it. A business major? Please. Not that I’m not capable of or smart enough but I was deeply “acting” and acting a role I didn’t want to be a part of. I left the first college I was attending, Georgia Southern University, where I was enrolled in the business program and fairly active in a sorority — partying way too much, probably because I was glad to be out of the small town where I am from and to be gaining popularity that I’d never had before… but it caught up to me and I took my butt back home to little small town Cairo, Georgia to revaluate my life. It was there that I took a hard look at who I was and truly wanted to be and where I ultimately decided that I was going to have the courage to find an art school and to go all in to this “art thing”. From there things just started flowing…. right place, right time sort of situation. The University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, specifically the Department of Visual Arts. A rare and very special group of incredible professors dedicated to giving those willing their very best in the arts. It was perfect for me and perfect timing. This is where I really started swallowing the role of an artist. The good and the bad of it and this is where I discovered the world of printmaking. Thank you Michael Marling. From my first printmaking class, I was hooked and sunk in love with the whole of printmaking… plus it brought me back to my long lost friend, scrap wood and boy, has it lead me on some wonderful adventures. Not to say my world completely revolves around printmaking but it is very hard to know me and to not know a good bit about it.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Truthfully I think any artist who tells you its been a smooth road is a liar…. bold I know but I believe from my last response you can see that it wasn’t always smooth sailing for me. I had to get in trouble and uprooted from what I thought was the right path for me to face the reality that I was fitting myself into a mold that wasn’t for me. Once I faced that truth… you could say things began to really flow for me. Sure I still faced hardships and y’know life things but printmaking brought me to what felt like was always missing. By this point I knew how to listen to these callings and I did my best to fully show up. It wasn’t always easy but because I was willing to show up when others were more focus on things like spring break and social status and such that I landed a pretty sweet job with a prominent ink and paint manufacturer out of the United Kingdom called Cranfield Colours. I still work alongside them to this day as their go-to person in the states to handle sales, outreach, and recently social media.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in woodcut printmaking and what I’m known for is my work with natural plants, specifically ferns. I was called “the fern girl” for a little while there, which I am proud of. I think what sets me apart from other woodcut printmakers is ultimately my experience in the art materials world through Cranfield Colours. With them I have been taken all over the world and into several different trade shows, conferences, workshops, and studios where I was actively in the action of working printmakers and artists as well as the business side of art materials. I’ve gotten to be in the room with most of my print heroes and had the opportunity to share conversations with them over the years. And also to be able to say that we are now friends. Cranfield also made me an expert in the field of printmaking inks, which for a printmaker is invaluable but also gave me a confidence that I needed in order to feel worthy in the world of printmaking. What also sets me apart is my desire to work big (meaning large scale work) with a laid back approach. I say laid back because printmaking is really a thorough science and with so many avenues of print it can be dizzying to decide which way you want to take it. I go back to my days of being super intimidated by a blank bound and primed canvas. When I try to overcomplicate and make perfect work I get stuck and overwhelmed but I have a real breath of fresh air when I pick up a bit of wood and pluck a few ferns on my long walks with my dog Loki to turn into a work of art. My goal is to create something that is as close to nature as possible, something similar to a fossil you find forged into the insides of a rock. I want to create something timeless but also something that lasts. This is where my expertise of quality art materials comes in. The work you make is only as good as the materials you use, always.
How do you think about happiness?
Happy?! Now we are just getting sappy…. What makes me happy is seeing perfect strangers deeply connect to my work and want to have it in their home, business, and lives. That truly, madly, deeply makes me very happy. Sometimes I am in disbelief when others LOVE my work to the point of wanting to purchase it, frame it, and hang it in a special part of their home but it is a golden reminder that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing and others are benefitting from it too.
Pricing:
- Pricing is absolutely nuts and I think all artists have their own qualms with it but anyone buying work from me can know that I use my whole heart when it comes to pricing my work. I’m not just tacking on some zeros or commas, I am upholding well over a decade of experience and knowledge as well as blood, sweat, and tears. I do mean blood, sweat, and tears, woodcut printmaking is dangerous and I’ve got the scars on my fingers to prove it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ladysarahmalone.com
- Instagram: @ladysarahmalone
Image Credits
Photos by Shelby Ryan Smith, my husband <3
