Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Hawkins.
Hi Sarah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As an artist, my childhood was very influential in what I have made and pursued in my adulthood. I grew up with three siblings and was homeschooled for roughly the first half of my life. By the time I was twelve, my family had moved ten times. My Mom is a part time professor and pastor, and a full time Mom, and my Dad is an archaeologist, priest, author, and professor. I definitely think that this was very influential in what I was exposed to as a child. We weren’t allowed to watch tv channels because my parents were against the commercials, but they picked out dvd’s we could watch. So, growing up, I had exposure to a lot of religious content, 70’s shows, and all kinds of books, but was sort of in a bubble away from a lot of societal expectations.
Growing up, I always enjoyed drawing and being creative. It was a way for me to be curious about the world. Anything I wanted could exist and all I had to do was make it. When I was in high school, at age 16, I received a scholarship for a Virginia Pre College Arts Residency. I lived at Radford College for the summer and took art classes. It was the first time that I was surrounded by other people that also liked to make art. It put me on a path towards a focus on art in college, and showed me what a community that I didn’t know existed could feel like. I truly believe that If I didn’t go there that I might not be pursuing art today.
A few years later, I moved to Richmond, Virginia to go to VCUArts. It was the number one public art school in the US, which I was super excited about. They had a huge focus on presentation and were detail oriented, so I got a lot of technical practice while at school. I tried so many different things, and crafting is a huge part of my life, but ultimately my love was drawing. My teacher, Chris Norris, encouraged me to apply to Kinetic Imaging, the department for video, audio, and animation. He said that I should push myself to learn this new skill, as opposed to continuing just with drawing. This is the first point in my life in which I got a computer, and everything was brand new to me. This was life changing, as I fell in love with traditional animation and adopted it as a permanent part of my practice.
During the 2020 lockdown due to the CoronaVirus, I remained in my basement, making analogue animations and photographing them at home on a makeshift setup. I was exploring, embracing humor, and trusting my instincts. At this point my practice was heavily drawing based. Everything that I did was very ‘DIY’. I graduated with my Bachelors degree, but felt like I missed out on some technical knowledge and skills due to the pandemic.
After school, I delved into crafting, pottery, and drawing. I was craving making tactile work, while also navigating my professional life. I taught a few Arts and Crafts classes at the Autism Society of Central Virginia, organized by Staci Carr. I assisted Jared Duesterhaus in teaching an animation program at the Pre College Summer animation program at VCU. I also was a Co-Teaching Artist with colleague Cate Duckwall for an after school augmented reality class at Art180. I was inspired by these experiences, and decided that I wanted to continue my own education by pursuing graduate school.
I was attracted to California Institute of the Arts because of their experimental animation program. The school had a wonderful reputation, allowed creative freedom, and, most importantly, allowed analogue animation. I applied and got in. I moved to Valencia to attend, which was my eighteenth time moving. I continued to focus on hand drawn animation, but immediately picked up on new technical knowledge. I learned how to use the downshooter, Dragonframe, cintiq, After Effects, Tvpaint, and the list goes on. CalArts has been an incredible experience that allowed for significant creative growth. I will complete the Experimental Animation Graduate program and receive my Masters degree in May of 2026. Until then, I plan to continue to teach, as well as incorporate animation, drawing, and crafting into all areas of my life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Although my motivation to make art has been unwavering since childhood, I have had outer obstacles that interfered with my progress. I have had a very difficult time with my journey as an artist due to recurring health issues. Throughout my childhood, I started experiencing symptoms of what I would later find out was called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. This consisted of chronic fatigue, dietary issues, hypermobility, and many more symptoms. In 2018, I experienced severe muscle atrophy and tissue damage in my right hip, and it took several years of physical therapy for me to return to normal walking and hip usage. I broke my dominant wrist and thumb in 2021. In 2024, severe autoimmune issues caused this injury to flare back up and resulted in muscle atrophy of the right wrist. I completed five months of physical and occupational therapy before being able to animate again. My body has a very difficult time fighting off any type of sickness, and I have spent numerous months suffering with mysterious illnesses and injuries. I am very lucky to have an extremely supportive family that is invested in my health and wellbeing, and am consistently working to improve my overall health with every passing year.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an artist, I began making work as an outlet for my own complicated emotions, as well as a way to communicate with the world. Because of this, my work has always been heavily based on my subconscious. Some themes that I focus on are how it feels to live inside of a body, the sensation of being covered in skin, having an external form, residual feelings from alienation and abuse, and the perspective of innocence.
Through animation, video, three-dimensional objects and textiles, and still imagery, I focus on texture and detail in order to create an immersive message. Despite the medium, all of my pieces are primarily analogue and hand drawn or hand made. In many large scale illustrations such as “Family Portrait”, “The Victim”, and “Warzone”(2022-24), the focus is residing on the structure of each individual, and the inferred relationships that they have with each other. Conflict or affection can be seen through these creatures’ forms alone, which highlight the complexities and confusing nature of discerning another’s feelings or intentions. These pieces are ranging from two to three feet long, and are primarily graphite, while “Warzone” is made of pen and ink. “Met Again” (2024) is an investigation of death, the fleeting nature of life and relationships, and the rippling effects that our actions have on others that are only briefly in our lives. This piece is a comic drawn in graphite, and hand bound with a paper mache cover. Another large scale comic, Crawl (2024) explores growth, healing, and hopefulness towards the future. This piece is two feet tall and made with pen and ink. These still mediums allow me to spend more time rendering detail, while animation allows for a more controlled viewer experience. “Porcelain” (2024), an analogue, hand-drawn animation, explores a friendship between two girls, and their shared experience of entering the world. During their combined journey, shock and discomfort take the center stage and cause them to rethink their places in society. These pieces have served as an analysis of human relationships, the sensory experience, and the self.
What matters most to you? Why?
My overall passion is to work with my hands. I fully believe in the healing nature of art and its ability to connect one to the self. While using art as a means of self expression and a therapeutic tool for myself, I also want to continue to teach others and advocate for underrepresented individuals to explore the self and heal through an artistic practice.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarrahkinzart/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-abigail-hawkins-b8500823a/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarrahkinz6858
Image Credits
The headshot of myself (Sarah Hawkins) was taken by Owen Kingsley Lane. The rest of the photos I took myself.
