April 12, 2018

Conversations with the Inspiring Sarah Janece Garcia

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Janece Garcia.

Sarah Janece Garcia is an artist in Dallas, TX. She works primarily in watercolor to create unique wildlife portraits and nature inspired paintings. Sarah’s work is influenced by her passion for art, attraction to color, and love for nature’s beauty. The energetic movements in her organic abstractions, along with vivid colors, and a focus on intricate detailing allows her work to capture nature in both literal and abstract ways.

Sarah’s paintings have been showcased at various group exhibitions throughout the United States and international exhibits in South Africa (Johannesburg), United Kingdom (London), Helsinki (Finland) and France (Paris). Such exhibits include being selected as a finalist of the Hunting Art Prize which is a prestigious annual competition with the most generous annual award in North America. Sarah’s work has won several awards, including having a painting designated as the grand prize winner in an art and design competition hosted by Uncommon Goods. After winning the design challenge, Uncommon Goods chose to offer multiple pieces of her work to their customers. These selected paintings have since been featured seasonally in the Uncommon Goods catalog which reaches millions worldwide. Sarah’s unique point of view, attention to detail, and bold artistic expression has caught the eye of many and her work continues to travel worldwide to reach collectors. One such notable collection her work is a part of is the GOLDEN (Golden Artist Colors, Inc.) collection in New York. Sarah’s current line of watercolor work continues to be juried and accepted into nationally ranked art festivals and she has gallery representation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Grand Junction, Colorado and throughout North Texas.

“For as long as my memory serves, I have wanted to be one thing and that is an artist. I have spent my life, since childhood to present day, pursuing this dream. At the age of 10, I was asked to write a book about what I hoped my future would be and I said my goal was to “try to be an artist when I get older” and I drew the future me at an easel, painting a cat. That picture I drew in 5th grade honestly, could not have better captured exactly what I currently spend my days doing. This goal of creating art really has been a labor of love that has filled my journey with so many wonderful blessing and I am so grateful to spend every single day of my life striving to be an artist.”

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As with pursuing any self-employed business venture or dream, challenges will arise but these challenges always seem to serve as the best learning experiences and building blocks for your business. The good but also challenging part of the arts is that there is not really a one size fits all or set formula for turning the creation of your art into a full-time art career. There can and will most likely be amazing people along your art journey that can help teach you, advise you and encourage you but ultimately each artist will learn from their own experience to construct their system, plan and concepts for creating their artistic vision, getting their vision seen by galleries, collectors and art enthusiasts, having their art be purchased and etc. This individual pursuit can at sometimes feel challenging because it really is something that only time, dedication, and persistence will reveal to you. However, this same concept can also prove to be a wonderful thing because it allows each artist endless possibility to grow and make their own mark in the art industry. Every single artist will have their own individual artistic expressions and it is this individuality and uniqueness that makes the arts such an exciting and inspiring aspect of life and it allows for each artist to succeed with their own business model. I have been fortunate to learn through experience, trial and error, and dedication to the craft many valuable lessons and I have also been blessed to have many wonderful artists, mentors, friends and family along my path that offer advice, training, supportive encouragement and more along the way and I am always happy to return the favor to those pursuing their artistic dreams.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into being an artist. Tell us more about the business.
I am an artist and I work primarily in watercolor to create unique wildlife portraits and nature inspired paintings. My work is influenced by my passion for art, attraction to color, and love for nature’s beauty. My wish is to use color, shape, line, composition, and energetic movement to speak a visual language that I have an unending passion to express. Creating this visual expression of my inner realm of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and inspirations has been a labor of love I have been fortunate enough to explore through the creative process of making art for as long as I can remember. I truly enjoy capturing the freedom and vitality of nature in unexpected ways and expressing my love of artistic expression through painting.

A line of work I am proudly exploring at the moment is my Endangered Species Collection. The “Endangered Species Collection” is meant to capture the beautiful and majestic faces of endangered and threatened species from around the world. These amazing animals rely on us as humans to use our voice, abilities, and power to speak up for them, protect them, and honor the importance of their existence on this Earth. In this collection I hope to express the deep connective thread between humans and animals while also combining art with conservation to celebrate these fascinating animals that inspire and amaze. Additionally, a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of any original in the “Endangered Species Collection” goes to a preselected charity to aid in the work being done to conserve the animal that is in the painting.

What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I believe female leadership in the art industry is on the rise in the most beautiful of ways. I consistently see female leaders taking charge in all aspects of the arts. I am blessed to be a part of this incredible rise of women uniting together! Women have always been invaluable to the arts and all creative fields, our unique voice in the arts has always been one of impact and I continue to see women taking charge and making their mark whether it is through all female art exhibitions, women owned and operated galleries, women artists running fabulous showings at art festivals, and more. I truly believe that when women empower, support, & unite, that we all truly rise together and grow the art culture in such positive ways.

Contact Info:

Website: www.sarahjanece.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mosagallery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mosagallery

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.