All of Sara Malpass' work expresses the delicacy and acuity of her own physical presence. She came to the NIAD Art Center in 1994 at the age of twenty-six and has grown in many directions since those early years.

She now is adept at both reading and writing on her own and on the computer, and has excelled in many forms of art, including painting and drawing, weaving, quilt-making, ceramics, computer art, and poetry. She has even written her own short stories, unaided, and illustrated them in computer art and by hand.

Malpass often uses the same themes and motifs throughout her work, such as interwoven hearts, flowers and scenes from nature. She also has developed a technique of producing ceramic tiles printed with words which she finds in books, magazines and newspapers. She writes the words on paper and carves them onto clay tiles with a sharp stylus. After these tiles are baked and glazed, some of them are mounted on frames, forming friezes and wall hangings, suitable as garden decorations and table tops.

Although she has been diagnosed with a severe seizure disorder, Ms. Malpass is unusually productive and versatile, as consistent in the pursuit of her art as she is talented. Her work has an inimitable fey and quirky quality, the overall effect of which completely charms the viewer. What she likes best about being an artist, she says, "I like drawing and painting. When I paint, it makes me feel that I'm doing something important, putting something up on a wall that's going to look pretty. It makes me happy."

Her favorite thing to do in the whole world is to make her word tiles, because that allows her to use words and art at the same time.

Flowers 2
Mixed Media on Handmade Paper
15" x 20"
$100

The Flowers and The Butterflies
Mixed Media on Paper
12" x 11"
$75

Hearts
Ink, Pencil, & Watercolor on Paper
15" x 18"
$95

Landscape
Watercolor & Ink on Paper
15" x 21"
$110