Bio
Sarah Peoples is a sculptor from Philadelphia. She is currently the Artist in Residence at Glen Foerd (6/22-9/23). Throughout her time at Glen Foerd she has installed three large-scale public-works addressing issues of environmental justice, the influence that an exclusive collective consciousness has when forming a national identity and our “shared” human connection to the environment. The culmination of this residency will be a public event on the grounds of Glen Foerd featuring Peoples’ work, site-specific performative mindfulness practices and her planned interactive community engagement on September 24th from 1-4pm.
She has a public solo art exhibition at The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum in Maryland throughout the summer and fall of 2023 entitled Between Wind and Water. Peoples’ writing will be included in the Artist, Mother, Proud & Serious publication | VOLUME I in November 2023 as she critiques the divisive and problematic “Art Mama" movement. Her 18’ site specific Plastic Waterfall sculpture made from post-consumer recycled material was installed in the lobby of the Cira Centre in Philadelphia as part of the the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and HotBed’s Plastic Free Philly campaign in the Spring and Summer of 2022.
She was lead artist in the DaVinci Art Alliance’s Everyday Future Fest at Palumbo Park in April 2022 wherein she presented Deconstructed Landscapes; a public art exhibition featuring 6 large temporary site-specific sculptures made entirely from post-consumer recycled materials. Peoples has installed several commissioned and non-commissioned public works including her street sculpture series entitled Oil Soaked Neckties, Baptismal Font, Props for Peaceful Protest, and Props for Nature. Peoples displayed a large-scale Plastic Rainbow sculpture in Fairmount Park as a way to connect with her community in the earliest months of the pandemic. Conrad Benner, from the celebrated Streets Dept., described the piece in his article roundup of Top 10 Philly Public Art + Street Art Moments of 2020: “…the arched rainbow (that) became a citywide symbol…”. As an outcome of that project Peoples was awarded a first round Art is Essential grant from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Fund for Art and Civic Engagement for Monument Stage and Lemon Hill project proposal.
Peoples has exhibited her work in galleries and museums, both at home and abroad. Galleries include AUTOMAT Collective in Philadelphia, PEEP Space in Tarrytown, NY and MWoods, a private museum in Beijing, China where she is part of the museum’s permanent collection. She was proudly a 2018 Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge recipient.
Education
May 2012, MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA,
May 2005: BSA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
May 2000: Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Exhibitions and Public Works
Sarah Peoples is a sculptor from Philadelphia. She is currently the Artist in Residence at Glen Foerd (6/22-9/23). Throughout her time at Glen Foerd she has installed three large-scale public-works addressing issues of environmental justice, the influence that an exclusive collective consciousness has when forming a national identity and our “shared” human connection to the environment. The culmination of this residency will be a public event on the grounds of Glen Foerd featuring Peoples’ work, site-specific performative mindfulness practices and her planned interactive community engagement on September 24th from 1-4pm.
She has a public solo art exhibition at The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum in Maryland throughout the summer and fall of 2023 entitled Between Wind and Water. Peoples’ writing will be included in the Artist, Mother, Proud & Serious publication | VOLUME I in November 2023 as she critiques the divisive and problematic “Art Mama" movement. Her 18’ site specific Plastic Waterfall sculpture made from post-consumer recycled material was installed in the lobby of the Cira Centre in Philadelphia as part of the the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and HotBed’s Plastic Free Philly campaign in the Spring and Summer of 2022.
She was lead artist in the DaVinci Art Alliance’s Everyday Future Fest at Palumbo Park in April 2022 wherein she presented Deconstructed Landscapes; a public art exhibition featuring 6 large temporary site-specific sculptures made entirely from post-consumer recycled materials. Peoples has installed several commissioned and non-commissioned public works including her street sculpture series entitled Oil Soaked Neckties, Baptismal Font, Props for Peaceful Protest, and Props for Nature. Peoples displayed a large-scale Plastic Rainbow sculpture in Fairmount Park as a way to connect with her community in the earliest months of the pandemic. Conrad Benner, from the celebrated Streets Dept., described the piece in his article roundup of Top 10 Philly Public Art + Street Art Moments of 2020: “…the arched rainbow (that) became a citywide symbol…”. As an outcome of that project Peoples was awarded a first round Art is Essential grant from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Fund for Art and Civic Engagement for Monument Stage and Lemon Hill project proposal.
Peoples has exhibited her work in galleries and museums, both at home and abroad. Galleries include AUTOMAT Collective in Philadelphia, PEEP Space in Tarrytown, NY and MWoods, a private museum in Beijing, China where she is part of the museum’s permanent collection. She was proudly a 2018 Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge recipient.
Education
May 2012, MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA,
May 2005: BSA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
May 2000: Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Exhibitions and Public Works
- September 2023: ArtsFest Event at Glen Foerd, opening reception event for AIR public work, public engagement and interactive community arts programming, Glen Foerd, Phila, Pa
- June-October 2023: Between Wind and Water, Solo exhibition of public work at the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, Havre de Grace, Md
- June 2022-September 2023: Artist in Residence at Glen Foerd, Phila, Pa
- May-July 2022: “Plastic Waterfall” installed for Plastic Free Philly Campaign with The Academy of Natural Sciences and Drexel University, Cira Centre, Phila, Pa
- April 2022: Lead artist in Everyday Futures Fest at Palumbo Park, Installed Deconstructed Landscapes, DVAA, 2022, Philadelphia, Pa
- Oct-Jan: FlatFile 2021-2022, Peep Space, Tarrytown, Ny
- Mar 2021: Awarded Art is Essential Grant, Philadelphia, Pa
- June 2020: Props for Peaceful Protest, Sedgely Drive Sculpture, Philadelphia, Pa
- April-August 2020: Plastic Rainbow on Lemon Hill, Site Specific public non-commissioned sculpture
- July 2020: Baptismal Font, Sedgley Drive Site Specific Sculpture, Philadelphia, Pa
- Dec 2017- Jan 18: Wind Challenge Exhibition Recipient, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
- May 2017: Making in Place, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
- July 2016: Juried JURIED ART EXHIBITION, Juried by John Silvis, AUTOMAT Collective, Philadelphia, PA
- May 2016: Art in the Open Schuylkill Banks, Philadelphia, Pa
- Dec 2015: Tiger Strikes Asteroid’s Satellite Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach “Artist Run” @ Ocean Terrace Hotel, AUTOMAT Gallery presents Breakroom
- Nov - Dec 2015: Stand-In, AUTOMAT Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- May 2015: Brood Maker: An Inflatable Baby-Making Machine, Metro Gallery 250, Philadelphia, PA
- Oct 2014 - Jan 2015: Pale Fire: Revising Boundaries, M Woods (D-06, 798 Art Zone, No.2 Jiuxianqiao, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China)
- Sept - June 2013: A Fine Line, Traveling Drawing Exhibition Artmobile, Bucks County, Newtown, Philadelphia, PA
- June - October 2013: Who Say It Be, The Work of Sarah Peoples and Adam Lovitz, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building at PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
- Sept 2012: WHYY Creative Connectors Festival, WHYY/NewsWorks Studios, Philadelphia, PA
- June 2012: 5 into 1 Exhibition, Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art & Design, Phila. PA
- May 2012: Thesis Exhibition, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building at PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
- Nov. 2011: Performance Drawing: So Nice to See You; Out in Out Exhibition, MBN Studios Philadelphia, PA
- Nov.-Dec. 2011: Video Installation at Market East Station, Philadelphia, PA
- Mar. & Nov. 2011: Fellowship Juried Exhibition, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA