Sarah Ellen Rowe
Sarah Ellen Rowe
Sarah Rowe is a ceramic artist based in New York City. In her work she explores decaying, abandoned, and obsolete architectural structures. Her work as a ceramic artist began in the rural village of Obuse, Japan where she apprenticed in a traditional studio with master potter Keiichiroh Sato. Rowe has exhibited nationally and internationally. In recent years, Rowe co-curated the exhibition, Intersecting Editions at The Castle Gallery in New Rochelle. Rowe also participated in The Bronx Museum of Art’s AIM program, was a Create Change Fellow with The Laundromat Project and was a fellow in the Art and Law Program. Rowe holds an MFA from Lehman College, 2013 and a BA from the College of the Holy Cross, 1998.
I utilize clay as a medium to record forgotten, overlooked and obsolete architectural structures. By pressing clay directly onto a building’s surface, I create casts of textures and details. At building sites, I also gather fallen fragments. In my sculptures, I reconfigure and arrange these elements which serve as records of a structure prior to its alteration or demolition. Buildings which are personally or historically significant are particularly compelling for me. I aim to preserve the subtlety of familiar details such as the edge of a window frame, a fissure in a wall, or the pattern of a metal gate.
