Year Graduated
B.F.A. 2017 and M.F.A. 2021

Major/Minor
B.F.A. Art: Painting and Drawing and Photography; Art Education Licensure; B.A. Drama/Theater; M.F.A. Art: Intermedia

Noteworthy campus achievement 
VMFA graduate fellow 2019-2020, VMFA professional fellow 2022-2023, various JMU grants.

What are you up to now?
I am all over the place. I am teaching photography at Washington and Lee University, and I am teaching a number of classes at Eastern Mennonit and JMU in the summer/fall. I work regularly in scenic design at Signature, Theater J, Kennedy Center and American University, and I will be at the Smithsonian for the Folklife Festival over the summer. I teach skiing in winter and am a 2022-2023 VMFA fellow. I'm all over the place, but I'm enjoying it.

How does your art major/minor inform your career?
I think majors/minors really just get you meeting the right people and learning how to learn. I am a practicing artist, so of course that comes from my time at JMU, also. I am super grateful for all fo the support from JMU from my time there and even now.

Do you have an example of how the mentorship you received at SADAH helped shape your process or career?
I have lots of faculty to whom I owe my studio practice and career, and, most importantly, taught me how to be a mentor, teacher and supporter of younger artists. Being an artist is about making a community, and so much of that I learned from JMU faculty during my time there.

What is your advice for JMU students knowing what you know now?
Enjoy school. Spend time on what you find valuable and don't let anyone else (peers, faculty, the "typical trajectory") define that for you. Don't rush through this time in your life!

Website/ Blog
@sarah.e.phillips1
sarahphillipsstudio.com