Biography
Sarah Nance is an interdisciplinary artist working in installation, fiber and sculpture. Her site-responsive work constructs relationships between light, geology and time, elements that contribute to our understanding of place.
Before coming to Concordia, Nance held academic appointments at Virginia Commonwealth University as Visiting Assistant Professor/Area Head (2015-16) and Fountainhead Fellow (2014-15), both in Fiber. Following the completion of her MFA at the University of Oregon (2013), she participated in consecutive artist residences in Reykjavík and Skagaströnd, Iceland; much of her research continues to be based in Iceland and northern coastal regions of Canada and the U.S. She is also a member of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia, affiliated with the Textiles & Materiality research cluster.
Nance's recent exhibitions include Antenna in New Orleans, LA; TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, AB; 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA; Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum in San Antonio, TX; FrontierSpace in Missoula, MT; Linfield Gallery in McMinnville, OR; SEDIMENT and Quirk in Richmond, VA; SÍM Gallery in Reykjavík, Iceland; and Loft 594 in Brooklyn, NY; with upcoming solo exhibitions at Galerie Octave Cowbell in Metz, France and FoFA Gallery in Montréal, QC.
Site-responsive installation, Sculptural fiber techniques, Analog and digital screen-printing processes, Dye/resist processes, Weaving, Beading, Machine- and hand-sewn construction
Research/Artist Statement
Exogeology, also known as planetary geology, is a field of study that uses existing knowledge of geological (earthly) features and processes to research celestial rocky bodies. It is an inherently interdependent field: the basis of understanding newly discovered planets is rooted in first having a deep knowledge of Earth. Yet, distinguishing what constitutes "Earth" has become less and less direct. An estimated 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on the surface of our planet each day and is incorporated into local geologies. Industrial processes have altered recent and currently forming rock and ice layers; human activity has become geological, too.
My current body of work, exo¨geology.. , entangles lunar, anthropocenic, and earthly geologies to create a de-centered understanding of place that considers the universe as a series of integrated sedimentary layers. Through the works in this series, I hope to articulate the experience of looking well beneath the surface of the earth and our presence within it, in order to simultaneously reach beyond it.
