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.
Oil Painting
April 4, 2022

Surreal Portrait Paintings Visualize the Chaotic Worlds We Keep Inside of Ourselves

Artist Irene Pérez blends realism with the utterly surreal in large-scale paintings that delve into the psyche of the human mind. In a minimal color palette, she depicts unconventional portraits of people who have been distorted by thoughts bubbling beneath the surface. One of the artists’ most recent and striking works features a portrait of a man that opens into the labyrinth that is his head. Atop his face is an M.C.

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Art
April 1, 2022

Surreal Collage Portraits Offer a Look Into the Mind’s Eye of People From the Past

Creating a collage allows an artist to recontextualize something—to give it new meaning beyond its original intent. Artist Shane Wheatcroft blends and rearranges vintage advertisements and editorial spreads into new and often more mysterious meanings. Some of his most striking pieces fuse portraiture with seemingly disparate symbols of interior spaces, home goods, and beyond. The results are an alluring combination of the past from a contemporary point of view, remixed with surrealism in mind.

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Portrait Photography
March 29, 2022

Photographer Captures the Enchanting Everyday Moments of Her Five Kids

Photography gives creatives the opportunity to craft their own worlds. Whether those places are fantastical or grounded in reality, the power of the camera is vast. Photographer Meg Loeks highlights how portraiture, particularly that of her kids, can chronicle their growth while communicating the magic that is childhood. It's all centered around the core of her world—the family home.

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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.