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.
Modern Art
April 4, 2025

Learn About Louise Bourgeois: From Her French Beginnings To Monumental Spider Sculptures

French-American artist Louise Bourgeois was a prolific creative. In her eight-decades-long career spanning the 1930s to the 2010s, she created large-scale sculptures for which she’s still known today. Sculptures, however, were just one part of her practice; she also painted, printed, and produced fabric art. The pieces were informed by the many themes she explored, all of which have proved timeless: memory, trauma, family, and the body.

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Travel
March 28, 2025

My Modern Met’s Art + Culture Guide to Phoenix

Phoenix, Arizona, is the largest city in the southwestern United States and has a vibrant culture to match. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the desert and sunny skies about 300 days out of the year, there is always something to do and look forward to in terms of art, culture, and food. The desert has long been a source of inspiration for people throughout history.

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Installation
March 24, 2025

Artist Brings Order to the Organic by Turning a Grid of Numbers and Colors Into Massive Tree Photos

Certain motifs stay with an artist throughout their career. For conceptual artist Charles Gaines, the recurring motif is a tree. The organisms have been a prominent part of his work since the 1970s. Most notably, he applies orderly systems to the organic structures. Gaines places a gridded format that covers the tree itself, often employing specific numbers and colors to fill in the squares.

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Sculpture
March 21, 2025

Resin Sculptures Reimagine Painting With Brushstrokes Placed in Suspended Animation

Artist Fabian Oefner explores the connection between time, space, and reality in his mind-bending works. The pieces, which range from dissected cameras to sliced sculptures, are the result of a highly methodical process in which he experiments and often collaborates with experts in various fields. Through this, new boundary-breaking pieces emerge. His VOLUMEN series reimagines brushstrokes and encourages us to think about them in ways we haven't before.

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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.