Posts by Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met and Manager of My Modern Met Store. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned her BFA in Illustration and MFA in Illustration Practice. Sara is also an embroidery illustrator and writer living in Seattle, Washington. She runs Bear&Bean, a studio where she stitches pet portraits and other beloved creatures. She chronicles the creativity of others through her website Brown Paper Bag and newsletter, Orts. Her latest book is Threads of Treasure: How to Make, Mend, and Find Meaning Through Thread, published in 2014. Sara’s work has been recognized in Be Creative With Workbox, Embroidery Magazine, American Illustration, on Iron and Wine’s album Beast Epic, among others. When she’s not stitching or writing, Sara enjoys planning things that bring together the craft community. She is the co-founder of Camp Craftaway, a day camp for crafty adults with hands-on workshops in the Seattle area.
Underwater Photography
September 16, 2025

Expressive Underwater Photos Inspired by the Grandeur of Baroque Paintings

The ocean flows with metaphors. It can be calm and tempestuous, liberating but also stifling. Water represents birth and renewal. For over 20 years, artist Christy Lee Rogers has been fixated on water and crafting images within it. Now, ART LABOR Gallery in Shanghai is presenting a major retrospective of her work titled Aqueous Renaissance, which highlights her singular vision of photographing bodies and fabric underwater with a grandeur that recalls Baroque-era paintings.

Read Article

Hotels
September 3, 2025

Book This Artisan-Designed Suite in Mexico Celebrating the Country’s Crafts and Culture

The beauty of traveling is that you can imagine yourself living in a new place, even if temporarily. While hotels are one way, renting an independent suite or studio is the best way to immerse yourself in the local culture. These places are often nestled within neighborhoods where there are no hotels, and you get a better sense of what it’s actually like to be there.

Read Article

Acrylic Painting
September 2, 2025

Artist Brings an Impressionist Touch to Paintings Depicting Life in Zanzibar

Artist Dullah Wise adds an impressionist touch to scenes depicting life in Zanzibar. His landscape paintings showcase the Tanzanian archipelago using bright colors and strong brushstrokes. The compositions depict a city culture with stone alleyways, but also a place that thrives on the ocean; sailboats navigate the waters with buildings and palm trees in the distance. Coupled with Wise’s use of purples, oranges, and blues, it’s an idyllic look at everyday life.

Read Article

Art
August 27, 2025

See Ai Weiwei’s Largest-Ever U.S. Exhibition in Seattle Before It’s Gone

For four decades, Chinese-born artist-activist Ai Weiwei has created work that questions power, advocates for human rights and freedom of speech, and challenges authoritarianism. His work, which implores us to interrogate history, society, and culture—often with humor and a bit of goading—is so impactful that Weiwei was detained by Chinese authorities in 2011 for 81 days, and he’s been living in exile from China since 2015. The Seattle Art Museum (SAM)

Read Article

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.