Sara Allen made snapshots over the years but left serious photography to “real” artists. After the death of her husband and retirement from teaching English literature to middle schoolers, she began to think about creating images with a sense of purpose. Moving to a Nikon SLR, she began the long process of becoming a photographer. She took photo classes to understand, first, her digital camera and software, and then the nature of the medium itself. All the elements of photography were new to her. Instead of thinking only of the object in her viewfinder, she began to think about the elements within a frame that capture a moment in time and space - the essence of photography. She continues to learn to see more acutely. She persists in her attempts to create images that go beyond the surface of things.
In 2020, she joined a Critique Group which is ongoing in 2023. During COVID she sought to create situations in which gesture, light, and composition communicated her feelings of sadness and a quiet pensiveness about this time of isolation. As this exploration continued, the project became more about the expressiveness of the human body itself. This collection contains both color and black and white images that explore the variety of ways the landscape of the human body expresses emotion.
Education
1964 Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY BA History
1987 Middlebury College Breadloaf School of English MA English
Curating
Northwest Village Network Center on the Hill, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia PA 2019
Exhibitions
Solo
DaVinci Art Alliance Philadelphia PA Inscape: Landscape of the Self, Solo Exhibition, May 2022 dainciartalliance.org
Group
Abington Arts Center Just Imagine Annual Art Show 2020-21 abingtonartcener.org
Council on Aging - Southern California Aging as Art: A Juried Photography Show 2022
Hera Gallery, Hera Educational Foundation, Wakefield RI The Perfect Age- Reflections on the Passage of Time, A National Juried Exhibition at Hera Gallery May - June 2022
DaVinci Art Alliance Philadelphia PA Member Show August 2022
DaVinci Art Alliance Philadelphia PA Member Show In Search of Something More February 2023
Media Arts Council 2022 PhotoEx Juried Photography Exhibit October 2022
Mt Airy Art Garage Member Show : A Body in 30th Street Station: Eiko
Otake 2014; Member Shows:
Mt Airy Art Garage Member Show: The Art of Photography October 2021
Mt Airy Art Garage Member Show Lifeblood February - March 2022
Mt Airy Art Garage Member Show Through the Lens September - October 2022
Mt Airy Art Garage Member Show 2023 Members Art Show February -March 2023
PPAC/TILT Member Shows: 2014 - 2019; 2021; 2022 tilt institute.org
South x Southeast Melana, GA July - August 2021 Relative: Seeing Ourselves, Seeing Others gallery exhibition.
www.sxsmagazine.org
Online Exhibitions
Exhibizone Exhibitions Emptiness 2022 Emptiness 2022 international online group exhibition. 2022-23
Artistonish Magazine 30th Issue - January 2023 artist call. Online and print
artistonish.com
Las Laguna Gallery HUMAN FACES AND FEATURES 2022 - Juried Online
Exhibition.
Las Laguna Gallery WOMEN IN ART, 2022 - Juried Online Exhibition.
Las Laguna Gallery FIGURES and FACES, 2023 Juried online exhibition
March 2023
www.laslagunaartgallery.com/
Gallerium Art Exhibitions & The Book of Arts Publication : Femina [Woman]
-2022 {Exhibition and Publication}
exhibitions@gallerium.art/
Hera Gallery, Hera Educational Foundation, Wakefield RI The Perfect Age-
Reflections on the Passage of Time, A National Juried Exhibition at Hera Gallery
May - June 2022 www.heragallery.org
LensCulture Competition Gallery Portraits Award 2022
