SARAH MCCANN

About the Artist

Sarah McCann is a Baltimore based curator, community artist, and educator. McCann’s text-based mosaics, prints and multimedia artwork has been exhibited nationally and she had her first solo exhibition in 2018 at Jubilee Arts in Baltimore. Since 2010 McCann has organized, curated and installed exhibitions and related programming from conception to completion. Her curatorial methodology poses questions to artists as themes for the exhibitions and often includes youth artists and/or a community component. Her most recent curatorial endeavor titled, “How We Are Healing” was curated in partnership with the Keswick Wise & Well Center. Sarah has facilitated public and collaborative projects and looks forward to continuing her work in Baltimore and beyond.  McCann also works as a non-profit professional, fundraiser, and organizational consultant. Her objective in this work is to improve visibility, financial security, equity, and meaningful project outcomes for artists, organizations, and communities. She currently serves as Director of Partnerships at Fusion Partnerships. Organizations Sarah has partnered with for community arts, exhibitions, and fund development work have included Baltimore City Community College, Creative Alliance, D Center, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Load of Fun Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Towson Arts Collective, Wide Angle Youth Media, and the Youth Dreamers. Sarah has a B.S. in studio arts from New York University, an M.A. and MFA in Community Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art. 

Artist's Statement

I see my role as an artist as twofold, bringing people together through art-making, and providing moments of disruption. I work to celebrate, communicate, and create joyous spaces of the connection while working to demolish the constant narrative driving a culture of greed, oppression and mythical stories of a history that erases a violent past based in racism, enslavement, and genocide. By providing spaces for these alternate narratives to compete in visible and audible ways with the primary narrative of this culture, spaces are created to hold truths that expand our understanding of where we are, the history that got us here, and where we could go together by forging a future of liberation for all. My creative practice spans a variety of media: drawing, printmaking, painting, mixed media, photography, and community arts. I am also a curator. My curatorial practice has been dedicated to engaging artists in the creation of new work for themed exhibitions, and engaging broader audiences by including young artists and community members, to bring their voices to the exhibit alongside professionals. These investigations look to explore issues of communication, value, life, and the dual nature of things. A current series I am working on is a set of paintings titled, Castles, Cathedrals, and Capitalism. These are painted from places I have visited that are historic, often beautiful, and that have played the roles of home, worship, and advertising. I am looking for connections in all of these places. What do we find of value here? What is preserved for visitors and future generations? What places had a more direct use? As billboard or office space you never had to leave? What do all these spaces mean now and how do all these different uses connect?