Artist STATEMENT
STORIES BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY | SARAH MCRAE
Growing up in the country, my siblings and I spent summers playing in the woods. We were always outside, always digging in the dirt, running through the trees, and playing in the pond. This instilled in me a great connection to the land, plants, and animals we came across. I will never forget the summers in the horse pasture, watching the butterflies dance from flower to flower and the turtles sliding back into the pond as we approached.
As an adult, I still dream about that piece of land. I have always been drawn to the delicate patterns, textures, and colors inherent in nature; qualities that give movement to the bark on a tree or a shoreline strewn with rock. I equally adore traditional Ojibwe beadwork with these same characteristics and love combining the two into one cohesive design.
While much of my work appears to only be about water and land, most of the inspirations behind the work are about the people in my life. My parents, siblings, friends, my birth family, and my relationships all make appearances in my paintings. You don’t see their faces, but they are ever present. They may appear as bears, turtles, butterflies, but most often they emerge as birds.
When I think about why I create art… it is to lift the spirit, to gain strength and clarity, to bring peace and balance of mind and heart. My art is about relationships and our interconnectedness.
About the Artist
A member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, Sarah McRae was born in 1968 in Green Bay, WI and adopted by Tony and Michele McRae. She graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN in 1991 with a BA in Art Education. In 1996, McRae received her MFA in graphics at UW-Madison. Sarah currently lives in Madison, WI, where she has been an art teacher at Velma Hamilton Middle School since 1996.
Sarah has been in exhibitions at the Plains Art Museum, the Watermark Art Center, UW-Madison School of Education, along with other galleries in Minneapolis, MN and Madison, WI. Most recently, McRae was part of the 2023 exhibition at the Gallery Marzen titled “Indigenous Artists of the Upper Midwest.” McRae’s work is also part of the permanent collection of artworks at the UW Hospitals in Madison, WI. She has done contract work for the White Earth Reservation, the Blandin Foundation, and the Watermark Art Center.