Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Pollman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I came to Boston some fifteen years ago for my undergraduate studies at the Museum School, and have been a part of the local art scene ever since. My time at the Museum School was incredibly influential, and I am lucky that I had the chance to engage in the rich community of dedicated makers and thinkers. I cut my teeth during my years as an undergrad at the Photographic Resource Center, and after graduation working at the Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston and the New Art Center in Newton. I have since completed my Master’s degree in Studio Art.
After graduating from my master’s program, I was incredibly lucky to have the talented Jessica Roscio, curator at Danforth Art Museum, ask me if I would have a solo show at her museum. It was a really amazing experience to work with her and think about the work within the context of a museum, and I will always be grateful for the experience. In addition to that show, I’ve participated in numerous group shows, including shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography and the Rourke Art Museum.
My first monograph, The Distances Between Us, was published by Trema Förlag (Stockholm, Sweden) in 2016 and it has been a pleasure to be able to share my work with an ever-widening network of supportive patrons, professionals and fellow friends.
Currently, I work in the Education Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and teach courses at Emerson College and Montserrat College of Art. I’ve always identified as an artist, but the rest of my professional life remains incredibly important to me. I often describe my work as existing at the intersection of art and art history; my work as an art historian and educator shape the projects I produce and the studio work I engage in informs the ways in which I read historical works.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being an artist is never a smooth road. On paper, the decision is absolutely absurd: it would make more sense to be an accountant or even an astrologist. For myself, and, I think, for many other artists, there is a drive and a passion that supersedes the logical, a drive and a passion that is located in love and admiration for the beauty of the world.
The hardest part of being an artist in Boston is reconciling the high cost of living with the available wages. Even the most driven, motivated and talented aren’t always fairly compensated, and the cost of renting has sky-rocketed in the last few years in a really alarming way. I’m hoping that things shift soon: Boston is a great town to be a visual artist in, and I really hope we don’t lose all the makers to the high cost of living.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I work in and around photography. I am committed to the exploration of photographic imagery, its meanings, and its uses, but my projects are not always straight photographs.
For example, my project Photographs Purchased on eBay takes a collection of vernacular snapshots that I purchased on eBay as a starting point. I recreated fifty of them in oil paint on panel, and then made a video where I dip the original photographs in bleach, so the viewer watches the original images disappear completely.
The primary focus of my work is the intersection between art and art history. Like the objects in encyclopedic art museums that I love so dearly, photographs are part of the fabric of material culture and carry stories within them: of their own material lives and of the lives of the people who made, collected, distributed and looked at them.
I am forever fascinated by the ways in which we all use photography: note-taking, memory-making, legal documentation, personal expression, social interchange and communication. My research and projects – visual, written and curatorial – take shape around these ideas.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
What served me the best in my formative years, and continues to be so important to me, is the idea that we are all evolving humans, and as long as we are continuing to grow and learn, we are on the right path. Sometimes in the photo (and art) world there is so much pressure to accumulate accolades on a CV. And, sometimes, those accolades aren’t nearly as important as learning, growing, and becoming. We are all evolving, always, and there is a magic and excitement to that process that can’t be represented by lines on a CV.
So, in short, my plans for the future are to continue the ever-evolving process of becoming myself in the most authentic manner possible. I am incredibly lucky to have a group of smart and driven friends, whose ideas and focus form a rich tapestry of support around me, and I am always indebted to their kindness for helping me grow along the way. I hope, as time passes, that I will be able to return this favor and help others in the same way I have been helped.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sarahpollman.com
- Email: sarah@sarahpollman.com
- Instagram: @sarahkpollman
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