I am an emerging, self-taught artist who grew up in the Albury/Wodonga area (for the most part) and now reside in Albury with my husband and two dogs. I appreciate the opportunity our region offers for people of all ages and backgrounds. In particular, I adore the area for the landscapes and nature that surrounds us.
I love exploring colour and texture, and working with both paint and fibre elements to create unique art. I work from my home studio and take inspiration from nature and colour, while challenging my mind to think in creative ways to form imaginative patterns and pieces with personality.
One of my favourite creative outlets is experimenting with different materials, colours, and compositions. The next piece is often heading in a different direction to the previous, always learning and exploring through art and allowing myself to follow my intuition. I enjoy creating intriguing, character filled artworks that can bring a little joy to our crazy world.
Introducing the face behind the art, Sarah O’Keeffe.
It’s kind of a long story, but whose isn’t?
I’ve always been creative and have fond childhood memories of a variety of different ‘arts & crafts’ type activities in our household, usually instigated by our Mum! I’m the middle child of 5 kids and growing up our home was full of crazy creations and many elaborate ideas, and I thrived on creative projects at school and have many happy memories of working on these with my Mum, siblings, and my school friends. We were lucky to have parents who not only nurtured and encouraged our creativity, but were also innovative themselves. Mum loved sewing, decorating our home, designing and re-designing our gardens, and helping us with all of our school projects; and Dad was always trying his hand at a new hobby and spent a lot of time on various woodwork projects - an art form passed on to him from his Dad/my Pop. We’re lucky to have special hand crafted items, keepsake boxes, tables or lamps made by my Dad or Pop.
Our world was changed forever in 2011 when Mum lost her battle with stage 4 kidney cancer. I had just turned 18, she was 48. My Dad sadly faced his own short battle with aggressive stage 4 Lymphoma in 2017 and passed away when he was just 58; I was 24 at the time. It goes without saying that these events have shaped the course of my life in unexpected ways, both good and bad. I would give the world to have my parents back, and to never see my family face the trauma and suffering that cancer brings; a journey that too many of us are so familiar with. I’m forever grateful for the influence of my parents and the values they instilled in their children. Through this journey has shone the strength, resilience and and kindness that they taught us. I feel that connecting with my creativity keeps me connected to my parents, and I know that they would be supporting me to do the things that feed my soul and bring me happiness.
They say the universe works in mysterious ways… At a time when I was struggling to find meaning in every day life and searching for a greater purpose, a friend invited me to come along to a macrame plant hanger workshop, in 2017, (thank you, Stacie!) and from the first time picking up a length of soft cotton cord, I‘ve found it hard to put it down again! I love the way I can teach myself techniques & patterns, and use both my brain and my hands to bring ideas alive. I picked up a paint brush for the first time a few years later and have enjoyed immersing myself in learning and experimenting. I find it equally fascinating and beautiful that there are no limits or boundaries to the ways an artist can express themselves, and there will always be new things to learn. My art is about the journey; creating a visual reward that is both a meaningful and unique, for myself and my collectors. Life is too short to live without colour and a little bit of crazy! There are no rules - create your own trends, decorate your home your own way, with things that make you smile.
Each artwork and macrame piece is thoughtfully hand crafted and truly comes from a place of love. I adore each piece for it’s own personality and narrative, and I hope you do too ♥