Posts by Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Inspiring
December 7, 2022

Famous Authors Are Sharing Stories About No One Showing Up for Their Book Signings

Author Chelsea Banning spent 15 years working on her first book, a fantasy novel Of Crowns and Legends. So when nearly 40 people RSVP’d to her first official book signing, she was expecting a full house. But when the doors opened, only two people showed up. Dismayed and humiliated, Banning took to Twitter to express her feelings. “Only 2 people came to my author signing yesterday, so I was pretty bummed about it,” she tweeted.

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Embroidery
December 6, 2022

Craft Your Own Beautiful Hoop Art When You Use These Embroidery Supplies

What tools do you need for embroidery? It’s a good question and one that embroidery artist Floor Giebels is eager to answer. She teaches an online course called Intermediate Embroidery: Getting Creative with Printed Fabrics in which she shows you how to create images, print them on fabric, and then use thread to enhance the photograph. Giebels starts by sourcing images and then printing them at home.

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TV
November 30, 2022

Why You Never See Wednesday Addams Blinking in the “Wednesday” Netflix Show

The Netflix show Wednesday is getting a lot of buzz, particularly about its lead actor, Jenna Ortega. She plays the titular role of Wednesday Addams and has totally transformed herself into the iconic, stone-faced character. One feature that fans have picked up on is that Wednesday doesn’t blink—a choice that was intentional by Ortega and director Tim Burton. Burton and Ortega wanted to convey a deadpan look from Wednesday, and her mannerisms helped achieve it.

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Sculpture
November 29, 2022

Artist Uses His Own Blood to Create Frozen Self Portrait Sculptures of His Head

Like many artists, Marc Quinn explores the notion of self through portraiture. But his self-portraiture offers an unexpected—and squeamish—twist to the genre. In his 1991 sculpture titled Self, he began to use his body as raw material for the piece. He made a cast of his own head and filled it with 10 pints of his blood immersed in frozen silicone. To keep the piece in a solid state, its temperature is maintained at -0.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.