The Artist
Pacific Northwest artist Sara Harwin has focused her talents to create Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection, an experience for viewers to understand and deal with personal and world issues by connecting through an ancient lens. The work may be described as a multidimensional exhibition reflecting more than 18 years of combining scholarship and art, allowing observers to experience how ancient cultures and philosophy offers ways to work towards a peaceful contemporary world.
Illuminated Letters employs 18 sewn and 42 computer generated digitally printed museum gallery panels and mobile objects based on sacred geometry created out of colorful silk fabrics. The full exhibition of Illuminated Letters extends over 40 feet and requires up to 2,500 feet of space for display offering multiple visual and emotional connections and meanings.
Sara Harwin’s intent is to offer viewers the rare opportunity to self-actualize, inspire, and ignite personal thoughts about connections to nature, the world, and perceptions about the universe. Her work reflects decades of study with international linguistic experts about the roots of ancient words, creating visual pathways for viewers use her art to discover their unique connections.
The media used in the creation of Illuminated Letters include acrylic paint, gold leaf illumination, calligraphy, fabrics, hand-cut paper, and computer created imagery combined with sewn silks and other fabrics.
Sara’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Michigan provided a formal education to her journey as an artist. Her early memories influenced her ability to observe and participate in wide cultural experiences and her artwork is characterized by presenting symbols of historic cultures using all forms of artistic media, from computer-generated graphic art to hand-lettered calligraphy in gold leaf. As a printmaker and two-dimensional artist, she was mentored and enjoyed the tutelage of Emil Weddige, (1907–2001) the internationally known lithographer, painter, and designer. Exploring and presenting works in three-dimensions began after she relocated to Portland, Oregon with husband Fred Harwin. Sara then began to create careful, delicate, and three-dimensional works in ceramics at Marylhurst University guided by artist and educator Wally Schwab.
Sara and Fred Harwin opened Harwin Studios as primarily a lithography and printmaking studio 1970. Around 1990 coinciding with the Macintosh desktop and graphic arts revolution, Sara began creating artwork involving extensive use fabrics, at times combined with technology. She modified her studio to accommodate computers, industrial sewing machines and areas for painting on fabrics, especially silk. Sara Harwin seized an opportunity to deepen her study of cultures and languages, by studying ancient Hebrew around 2011 with Stephen Carver, Ph.D., professor of religious literature and Rabbi Goldie Milgran, Ph.D., award-winning author, educator, and innovator of programs in the emerging field of Jewish spiritual education.
Sara continues her decades of learning by attending interfaith conferences to continue her discovery of cultural and symbolic connections that apply to all faiths.