Ordinary – Sara Tabbert

Ordinary

I have always been a champion of less obvious landscapes. In this selection of relief prints and work in wood, I’ve turned my attention to shacks and sheds, mailboxes and birdhouses, Quonset huts, trailers, and repurposed shipping containers. These structures transform easily, are built out of what is at hand, and multiply as needed. They quickly appear, disappear and morph. A dog barn becomes a sauna becomes a storage shed; a greenhouse becomes a chicken coop becomes an art studio. I live with a collection of these low-stakes buildings – the slightly ironic “motorcycle palace” (with, of course, no motorcycle,) the “freak-out shack,” the outdoor shower, the slightly tilting outhouse – all very human scale, all serving their purpose, all in various states of their life cycle. This exhibit represents a small collection of the structures I’ve befriended in real life and also imagined into being.

Sara Tabbert is a printmaker and mixed media artist from Fairbanks, Alaska. With an MFA in printmaking from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her love of woodblock printing has led to the creation of carved, painted wooden panels. In addition to smaller work, Tabbert’s large-scale public art commissions can be found throughout Alaska. Her work is housed in public collections throughout the state and beyond. In early 2020, the Alaska State Museum presented a solo exhibit of her recent work.

Tabbert has been awarded grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. In addition to residencies in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Italy, Tabbert has been an artist in residence through the National Park Service in Denali, Zion, Isle Royale, the Chilkoot Trail, and Acadia National Park. She will be spending this June and July as a resident fellow at the Museum for Art in Wood in Philadelphia.
Sharing art with other people is one of Tabbert’s priorities. She currently teaches out of and manages the Folk School’s print studio.