Sara Nordling has a life-long interest in art and textiles. While woven textiles are a mainstay of her work she will also paint, draw, knit, spin, felt, stitch, or otherwise construct art in various forms. Sara has an MFA in Studio Art from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She also has a BFA in Studio Art from Baylor University and a BA (deaconess) in Theology and Psychology from Concordia University, Chicago. Currently she resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana where she is a limited term lecturer in Fine Arts at Indiana University/Purdue University, Fort Wayne and works on commissions and other artwork.
“Sara Nordling’s weavings are formal explorations and wonderfully self-contained--what you see is what you get. Hanging horizontally, the textiles are both expansive and impressive signifiers of skill and thoughtful considerations in planning. Each pattern and color is carefully executed in a meditative practice of seemingly endless repetition. The weavings have a similar meditative effect on the viewer, so that one is able to experience the calm and effortlessness of its making. Nordling’s works embrace a subtle handling of color and texture to create extraordinarily delicate optic journeys.”
Adam Welch
*Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts MFA 2011 catalog
About
Artist Statement
The artist Anne Hamilton said, “The crossing of threads is analogous to many voices speaking, a choir.” The primary expression for my work is woven textiles. How multitudes of disparate threads get organized into a unified cloth, that even when simple is complex, is what I’m interested in and what I celebrate in what I create. The voices of the threads speak of working together, of harmony, and peace. They sing of color, of beauty, and joy. They come from a meditative place that takes me away from everyday troubles to the contemplation of that which transcends time.