Sarah Dixon, who works in oils and watercolor, divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Atlanta. She brings to her work a background in dance and floral design that produces glorious, lyrical, and whimsical paintings rendered precisely and executed in vibrant colors. Both Atlanta’s luscious foliage and California’s bright sunlight and airy beauty are evident in her botanical works. These paintings incorporate intriguing symbolism and humorous surprises. In addition to her botanical paintings, Sarah has created a series of “portraits” of antique dolls painted in a very contemporary manner. These paintings lure the viewer to step closer and relish in the luminous skin tones set against rich colors that surround the doll’s face, thus placing them in a modern context. One may ask: Are the doll portraits a comment on the “feminine mystique,” or are they merely lovely dolls to be admired? Her Kachina doll series captures the history of the tribal Indians of the Southwest. The graceful feathers of the Kachina contrasted with the carved, brightly painted wooden form, transports the viewer to another time and place. Sarah’s influences are many: The exhilarating colors used by Henri Matisse; the sensuous lines and curves evident in works by artists of the Art Nouveau style; the charm and naiveté of folk art; the intrigue of Frida Kahlo and the surreal quality in many of her paintings; the juicy impasto of Hans Hofmann; and the tender, velvet, complexions achieved by Mary Cassatt in her paintings of beautiful little children. Whether exuberant and complex, as is seen in her botanical series, or seemingly realistic, as in her doll-portrait series, Sarah’s works evoke delight and discovery that increase over time. PRINTABLE :: Bio & Influences | Résumé