Sarah Knouse of Lake Worth Beach is hosting a Solo Gallery exhibition, “Roots & Remnants,” at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County through Aug. 2. [Photo by Cultural Council for Palm Beach County]
Sarah Knouse, a sculptor, designer and arts educator in Lake Worth Beach, has long explored the intricate complexity of personal growth and has reflected on this since coming back to Palm Beach County last year after a year of living abroad and welcoming a child. While returning to a familiar place, she found everything had changed and experienced a continual state of transformation.
Knouse’s exhibition “Roots & Remnants” is at the Solo Gallery of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County through Aug. 2. Admission is free, and the gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m.
The exhibition delves into an intricate journey of personal growth, highlighting the complexities of motherhood’s profound transformation. This sculptural series captures the conflicting sensations of loss and growth that come with redefining one’s body and identity. By sifting through memories and piercing together shadows, Knouse contemplates the past and the future.
“Aesthetically, this exhibition was inspired in part by stalagmite cave formations and the slow change that occurs over time due to the impact of dripping water,” Knouse says. “I also drew visual inspiration from the elegant yet complex root system of the banyan tree. It represents one living organism being taken over by another in a manner that walks the line between symbiotic and parasitic relationships. The tangle of intertwined materials left behind by this process is a testament to the beautiful and constant chaos of change.”
Five life-size figurative sculptures are showcased. Each combines fragments of the female body with architectural elements. Ornate domestic artifacts are fused to body parts using a liquidlike coating, giving the impression of continuous movement frozen in time across their surfaces.
“Sarah Knouse’s work often tells a personal story, and this exhibition offers an explanation of the evolution of her life’s roles,” says Jessica Ransom, the council’s director of artist services and curator for the exhibition.
Knouse is one of six professional artists from Palm Beach County, chosen through a rigorous selection process for a Solo Gallery exhibition in the Cultural Council’s 2023-2024 season.
She is the founding art instructor of the High School at The Greene School in West Palm Beach and has had her sculptures shown internationally, including an installation project hosted by the Hockney Gallery at the Royal College of Fine Art in London in 2012.
Other exhibitions include the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and she has been a finalist in the Young Sculptors Competition several times. In 2015 she was the sole recipient of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual Artists from Palm Beach County.
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