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.

January 5, 2021

Amazing Heart-Shaped Amethyst Geode Discovered by Miners in Uruguay

Gems and minerals are often given as tokens of affection. But one discovery of a naturally occurring amethyst geode doesn’t need any help in expressing love—it’s already shaped like a heart! Uruguay Minerals made this amazing find at the border of Uruguay and Brazil when workers broke open a rock that revealed a heart on either side of it.

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December 20, 2020

Black Mothers Act Out Their Fears of Holding Limp Bodies of Their Sons in the U.S.

Photographer Jon Henry uses his artistic voice to offer a moving perspective on the murder of Black people by U.S. police. His series Stranger Fruit—named after the Billie Holiday song—depicts mothers with their sons as they reenact a scenario that is a very real fear for Black families in America. The photos feature sons, lifelessly draped in their mothers’ arms, in a pietà-esque pose that recalls works from art history.

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