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.
Art
March 6, 2014

Smoldering Urban Landscape Paintings Show Beauty in Decay

Artist Brian Mashburn's exquisite oil paintings of broken cities and decaying lands are as beautiful as they are haunting. Mashburn illustrates tangled, leafless branches against a smoldering landscape and heavy sky. Sometimes, we see an animal or person trying to make sense of what's around them. It seems bleak, but the artist does offers a glimmer of hope, and we see patches of blue sky and white clouds among the sepia tones, blacks, and grays.

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Houses
February 4, 2014

Vertical Glass House Features Transparent Floors & Ceilings

Vertical Glass House, a four-story building in Shanghai, China, proves that architecture has the ability to be both inconspicuous and provocative. Designed by architect Yung Ho Chang of the firm Atelier FCJZ, the outside of this house has a very simple, unassuming concrete facade that's broken only by a few small slits that emit light.

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Sculpture
July 29, 2013

Artist Forages for Driftwood, Turns What He Finds Into Awe-Inspiring Animal Sculptures

For artist Jeffro Uitto, a walk on the beach is more than just a serene walk. It's an opportunity to forage for materials for his incredible, large-scale sculptures. Using driftwood he finds around the Pacific Northwest (specifically Washington state), he assembles the gnarled pieces into animals and birds. The smoothed strips of fragmented wood are put together like a puzzle; and when Uitto is done, they harness gestural energy reminiscent of a painter's brushstrokes.

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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.