Sarah Paulsen
  • News
  • About & Bio
    • Statement
    • CV
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Current Projects: On Whiteness
    • The Invention of Whiteness >
      • White by Law
      • Passenger
      • Consumer's Void
      • The Racial Matrix
      • Jello
    • On Whiteness >
      • hidden white norms
      • Family Culture, Traditions, and Rituals
  • Visual Art
    • Animation Drawings, Props, and Ephemera
    • Painting >
      • Untitled Women
      • Parades >
        • History of Parades
      • Female Flaneur >
        • Female Flaneur Exploration in St. Louis
        • Thrift Store Identities
        • Searching for Art in South America
        • The Grand Tour
      • Portraits of Columbia
      • Group Portraits
    • CamRah >
      • Ant Circus and Built
      • Echo
      • Off the Wall in Utter Pandemonium as We Tape on It.
      • Temple of the Dancing Bear
      • Murals and Set Design
    • Collage/Assemblage >
      • Targets
      • Wanderlust
    • Community Projects >
      • Community Workshops & Artist Residencies
      • Curating
      • Murals
      • People's Joy Parade
    • Drawing >
      • Recall Redraw Release
      • Things for Which I am Nostalgic
      • Sketches and Process Work
    • Installation >
      • & Animation
      • & Paintings
      • Female Flaneur Exploration
      • Found Fabric Screen
    • Costumes and Performances
  • Video and Animation
    • Ant Circus
    • Begin
    • Elegy to Connie >
      • Elegy to Connie artworks
    • High Wire
    • Heart is a Muscle
    • Midwest Hair
    • ¿Qué Séra, Séra?
    • W.O.W (Women On Wheels)
  • Teaching
    • Marian Middle School and College/Adult Classes
    • Animation Workshops and Classes
  • Sales
    • Freelance & commission work.
During the summer of 2012, Cam and I traveled to Paris, France for a residency.  With trips through Spain, Morocco, and Germany, our goal was to visit and document some of the less celebrated art spaces and turn our observations into a short film.  En route we produced an amalgamation of sketches, drawings, animations, and short videos.  Initially I tried to script a narrative animation about the elusive nature of creativity, partially in response to the face of the blank wall at the residency.  However, Cam was more interested in experimentation with the Super 8 and a few small set pieces. 

Upon returning from the trip, we created a video that was screened as part of Audible Interruptions at C.A.M. St. Louis.
We filmed much of this trip using Super 8.  As I reviewed the footage, it triggered my memory of that trip, much as a home movie. I became interested in the idea of how a sound, smell, or color could trigger a memory, create an idea of a place or be a disruption to the stream of conscience. 

One thing I find appealing and disorienting about travel is the manner in which things are both recognizable and strange.  For instance, I spent days mesmerized by the changing clouds, light, and sunsets from our room in Paris, and yet at night I’d dream about St. Louis.  The landscapes became superimposed in my mind.  

Place as Muse.  While searching for inspiration, Cam literally drew a studio on our residency wall manifesting and becoming our studio practice.  Meanwhile I became fascinated with the archetype of “the cave” after reading myths about the cave under the Alhambra in Spain and the catacombs in Paris, it felt strangely tied to St. Louis.  The cave became similar to a vignette, window, a door, essentially a world within a world. 





Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.