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.
March 1, 2022

Humanitarian Chef Is on the Ground Providing Ukrainian Refugees With a Warm Meal

Spanish American chef José Andrés does more than cook delicious food. He’s also a philanthropist with a not-for-profit organization called World Central Kitchen (WCK) that provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. Andrés and his team are now set up in countries on the border of Ukraine to offer a hot meal to those fleeing from the Russian invasion.

Read Article



February 27, 2022

11 Hand Lettering Tools to Help You Create Your Own Extraordinary Alphabet

Want to make your text sing? Or how about dance? Hand lettering turns the ordinary alphabet into something exciting—something that's as illustrative as it is functional. Created by individual typographers, an artist adds their distinctive flair to letterforms that pack each glyph with personality. The results elevate text that would otherwise be considered simply ordinary. While it might seem like hand lettering is only meant for professional typographers, it’s not.

Read Article


February 22, 2022

Former Map Maker Walks for Hours in Snow To Create Giant Geometric Patterns in Snowfields

For the creatively minded, snow represents a giant blank canvas for art. But often, it's limited to snowmen or other snow sculptures. Outdoor enthusiast and cartographer Simon Beck had a different idea, and over the course of a decade he has carved a path for himself (literally) in the snow art world. He creates massive land art by walking across soccer ball-sized fields covered in untouched snow.

Read Article