Sabra Crockett has worked extensively on public art of one kind or another: as a scenic artist, a muralist, sign design, and in her more personal art she turns to the natural world, motivated by memory and childhood nostalgia: “My focus in my art is to bring the viewer a heightened awareness and connection to nature, because I believe it is disappearing. Since I was a little girl, I have always found refuge being outside with the birds and trees. Growing up was really tough. Family life was tumultuous, and I had no true friends. I would spend hours in my back yard, or exploring the then empty lots of undeveloped fields surrounding my suburban neighborhood - observing the birds, trees, insects, and amphibians. It all fascinates me. I learn life lessons by observing the plants and animals.”
There is a discovery of recurring pattern that has perhaps informed Crockett’s work, whatever the field. She has developed her technique for decorative painting from this observation, bringing a feeling for organic rhythms of our environment into interior spaces.
Not surprisingly, we also find an undercurrent of sensitivity to the threat to that natural world that has preoccupied us for the last few generations: “I find it all beautiful, even when it is cruel and terrible. However, there is a definite threat to the magic and lessons nature provides. I am aware of the over development of the land, the oil spills, the pesticides, the bee and bird populations plummeting. It terrifies me. For now, I have a desire to capture the essence of how I view nature through my paintings, and hope it inspires the viewer to remember the intrinsic value nature provides us all.”
Hometown: Rochester, New York
Age: 42
Education: BFA, Rochester Institute of Technology
Website: http://www.sabralynne.com
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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2016 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.