Radio Maine Episode 61: Sarah Ingraham
5/8/2022
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Hello, I'm Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to, or watching, Radio Maine. Today, I have with me in our studio artist Sarah Ingham. Hi, thanks for coming in.
Sarah Ingraham:
Thanks for having me.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So I'm really enjoying the bright colors of your pieces that are surrounding us today. I was really intrigued to hear that Dahlov Ipcar, who is of course a Maine artist, now passed away, was one of your early influences.
Sarah Ingraham:
I didn't grow up seeing a lot of art. I went to the Portland Museum of Art and her painting was the one that stuck out to me the most. It was her colors, the shapes. I hadn't really seen somebody use color like that before,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And she also does a lot with animals and there's a little bit of fantasy in the work that she does. Did that appeal to you at all?
Sarah Ingraham:
It was less the fantasy part and more of the wildlife, the natural, the leaves. I like the way she broke apart trees and plants in a way that didn't make sense but it had a lot of opportunity for color.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So when you are doing your own pieces, are you considering that approach? Are you breaking apart your own plants and leaves and looking at color in a way that's unique?
Sarah Ingraham:
When I start to make a painting, I think of these things as shapes like different parts of the plant are more just like objects that give me an opportunity to use color. So it really could be anything, it could be a cow in a field. For me, I guess I just like being able to play with color.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So when I'm looking at these peonies, they are pink, but I notice there's different shades to them and then you have what looks like maybe sunflowers. It seems like you've made really specific choices about the colors that you want to have in these.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes, I don't even know the names of the flowers and they just are whatever color I want them to be.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
I like that approach. I particularly like the kind of reddish hue to the middle of what I think are sunflowers, because that's a little bit different. It's not what you always see when you think of sunflowers. You and I have a connection, you went to the University of Vermont.
Sarah Ingraham:
I did. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Why did you make that choice?
Sarah Ingraham:
When I was applying for colleges, I was looking at soccer programs. When I started applying for colleges in my junior year, I decided that I wanted to pursue art. So I switched gears and started applying for art schools. That just all went out the window when I walked on the UVM campus and just fell in love with it.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
What was it about the UVM campus in particular that drew you in?
Sarah Ingraham:
I guess it was because it was the typical college campus. I didn't know that's what I wanted, but when I got there I was like, oh yeah, this feels good.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So you decided to go away from the art school experience in particular. Did you have a good art education from the University of Vermont?
Sarah Ingraham:
I did and I didn't. I double majored in fine art and history. My professors were nice and I learned what I needed to but I think the most important things I learned were outside of college. Definitely.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Okay. Well, let's talk about that then. You've been to a lot of interesting places
Sarah Ingraham:
I have. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So one of them is Iceland.
Sarah Ingraham:
I haven't been there yet but I'm leaving for Iceland soon.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well tell me about that.
Sarah Ingraham:
I'm going to go in April. I fly out on April 1st. I was applying for art residencies during the height of the pandemic. I work out of a 10 by 10 room in my apartment and was just like, I need to get out of here. So yes, I'm going to Iceland. I don't really know anything about it. All I know is there's a studio for me there. I'm gonna go and paint and try something new.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So of all the places in the world, why Iceland?
Sarah Ingraham:
I had never thought to go there but there was an opportunity to go. So, that's why I am going.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Where have you been that has influenced the work that you do now?
Sarah Ingraham:
So I guess growing up in Maine, and then going to college in Vermont I really wanted to go somewhere as different as possible. So, right out of college, I went to New York as most aspiring artists do. I learned a lot there. My first job was working for a wallpaper company. I had no idea how hardcore the wallpaper industry was. That first job was great. It taught me a lot about color. We would print on these 46 foot long tables and would do 10 to 11 impressions. That would be just one color. Sometimes they were up to seven colors for wallpaper prints. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You've got me intrigued by the idea of these enormous printers with enormous tables. So when you talk about working on these, do you have a team of people that works to put the colors in? How does that work?
Sarah Ingraham:
I was a print maker in college and that's how I ended up in the wallpaper business. With this process you work in tandem with somebody else. Your hands are always on the same screen. It's a lot of collaborative work.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Having talked to several artists, I'm intrigued by the idea that printmaking seems to come up a lot as a theme. Is there something about printmaking that is integral to art or is it just one of the pieces of an art curriculum that most artists take part in?
Sarah Ingraham:
I think it's just a way to make money. That's how I saw it when I first started out. I wanted to use my hands and I wanted a job in the arts and screen printing. Printmaking is a good way to get there.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
How about your interest in ceramics?
Sarah Ingraham:
I like painting pots but I haven't actually made any. Hopefully in the future, that's something I will do. I think my love of ceramics comes from my art history background. There's so many interesting patterns and colors
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And also you enjoy textiles.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes. That's also a result of art history.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So is there something about textiles? Is it the colors? Or is it the tactile nature?
Sarah Ingraham:
They're just more opportunities for color. It's another way for me to build a painting and my passion for color.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Did you know that you were interested in art when you were coming up through school as a soccer player and going to Greeley High School?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes, I did. But I didn't really see anyone doing it for a living. So, I never thought it was a possibility. I guess I just decided that I was gonna make it a possibility and took a risk.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And when you were going through your early education, and you didn't really see anybody doing it, how did you explore this passion early on?
Sarah Ingraham:
I'm a very introverted person. I process most things through drawing. I did that especially when I was little. I was always drawing, sitting in the corner scribbling. So, when I feel overwhelmed or anxious, it was my go-to.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So do you feel like if I gave you something to color with right now, that would be helpful to you?
Sarah Ingraham:
Definitely. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Okay. I understand. As a fellow introvert who is regularly called on in my own job to be an extrovert by training, I understand what it's like at the end of the week. We're like, I'm going to crawl inside my bed and pull the covers up over my head. It's actually an interesting thing to live in the world as an introvert isn't it?
Sarah Ingraham:
It can be tough but I'm also lucky that I'm able to do something that makes me happy. Not everyone has that.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Your studio right now is a second bedroom in your home in Brooklyn. Is that correct?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle::
So you say the commute is really very good for you.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes, it's great. I just get up and stumble across the apartment and start painting.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So what is it like to be in Brooklyn and also be a person who likes quiet, and likes to have some time and space to herself?
Sarah Ingraham:
I think the city is great because it's so anonymous. I can walk around and nobody knows who I am and I can just do whatever I want and nobody cares. Nobody's paying attention and you get to just watch everyone at the same time. So it's the perfect introverts environment.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yes. That's actually a really interesting observation that the anonymity actually provides you with more space just by virtue of having so many people around you. So are you a people watcher by nature?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes, definitely. I think I always have been. I think it's more interesting than being the one talking.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So I know that one of the places I like to go to watch people is airports. And I find that particularly fascinating. I always wonder if people realize how much they're being watched by other people in the airport setting and probably in the city as well.
Sarah Ingraham:
I think people are in the city to be seen, also. I think it's a little bit of a performance space. There's just so many different people and there's so many different environments.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So how does this translate into your art? The ability to see lots of things and observe what's going on around you and then go back to your studio space in your home and make the pieces that you make.
Sarah Ingraham:
I think the bright colors are, you know, a little bit of – I definitely like to be seen, but through my paintings. And I think when I'm making work, my biggest goal is to just have something that your eyes go directly to. So I think the bright colors like the loud compositions are something that I think reflect, I guess, the city.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
We have two of your pieces behind us and another behind me. Do you name your pieces?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I name what they are, you know, vase with bottle on tablecloth or really, I'm not that precious about naming. I think it's what you see is what you get basically.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So in this piece did you have a specific feeling you were trying to evoke? Did you have a specific story you were trying to tell or was it really just the colors and really trying to put them together in a way that was interesting.
Sarah Ingraham:
So when I start making a piece, these are all improvised. Like I don't plan out my compositions at all. I kind of have a catalog of shapes in my head that I go to. I have a base shape that I like, and I'll just throw it on there. And then I have an idea of what kind of flowers I know will give me a certain color and then I'll put them. I like when it's uncertain, you can kind of jump from one thing to the next. I think that's where the interesting things happen.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And then what about the piece that is behind me on the other side? What I find interesting is you have the flower pattern that's kind of reflected below, underneath the vase. And then on the other side, we have this kind of very vibrant striped I don't know, piece of fabric perhaps.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I think it's just whatever I can do to create the most visual impact. Like I said, they're totally improvised. I don't know what they're gonna look like. I just start painting them and then just play with color.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Your connection with the Portland art gallery is Paige Eastburn O'Rourke who is actually one of our early interviewees for the podcast. And she also does a lot with color and she does a lot with local scenes. And has this significant love of Maine, have you found your pieces in any way influenced by the work that Paige does?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. Well, she was, you know, one of the very first artists that I saw making work and like making a living off of her work. She was a huge inspiration. And I think when I looked at her paintings, I thought I could probably, I wanna do that too. So there is, there is a connection there, I think in that way,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
But it doesn't seem, at least for the pieces that I'm seeing here. It doesn't seem that you have quite the same ocean and scenery influence.
Sarah Ingraham:
No, but I could definitely go into landscape painting too. It's just the same thing, you know, just another opportunity for color. I think there's just, it's a different way of dealing with it with a landscape, but I'm interested in those too. And I have done landscape paintings before,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So this just happens to be where you are now. And the pieces that we have behind us are just kind of an example of the range of things that you do. One of the things that I know in talking to Paige that has happened is that she has actually evolved her palette so that the colors that we once were seeing have changed into a different set of colors with the painting she's now doing. Is that something common for artists?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I definitely start out with, you know, it's either a hot, hot pink or bright red, or I do like a deep, deep blue, and usually I go between those two colors and yeah, I think it really depends, but I think over the years, my palette has definitely become just way, way brighter and way more intense. And maybe that's because I feel more intense, but I don't know.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So you're kind of manifesting something that's inside onto the piece that you're doing.
Sarah Ingraham:
Definitely. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So I promised that I wouldn't talk to you about specific dates around things like the Indian pieces that you have once studied, but this was a part of your background that you spent time studying Indian art. Why was that interesting to you?
Sarah Ingraham:
Well I had like one professor who I loved and he would have these classes on Indian, like ancient Indian manuscripts and they were small, but you would start out with like 12 kids. And then by the end it'd be like me and another. And Indian art is cool because people read, they read the paintings, the paintings were like the primary language for like these religious texts. They would look at a painting and know exactly what it meant and know exactly how to read it and I always liked that because I feel like a lot of art can be really exclusive. And this wasn't and also color held meaning like red meant a certain thing, blue meant a certain thing. And like everyone understood that. I also liked the way he spoke about art. He would describe a painting like it was a poem.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So that's interesting. There was almost as if there was a code that was available, that everybody understood as they were looking at the Indian pieces. But you haven't really incorporated that into your pieces from what I'm hearing.
Sarah Ingraham:
I mean, there is, I guess, a code for me. And I think when it comes to certain colors and certain shapes, I have a connection to them. There is a language that's happening there whether other people see it or not.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
All right. Well, tell me what, I mean, I am not an artist and this is what I love about the work that I do is I get to talk to people like you, who can give me information on this. And it causes me to think quite a bit. So if you were to describe this code with your own piece here behind us, what would you tell me?
Sarah Ingraham:
I guess when I'm painting, you know, I am contending with a lot of, maybe not necessarily like negative emotions, but definitely it's a place I go to meditate and process. I think certain things in certain colors and the amount of time I spend in certain areas really reflect a lot of those emotions and those things that I deal with. So maybe the code is personal to me, but I like to leave things open to interpretation. I want people to look at them and feel whatever they wanna feel.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So when you look back at your pieces, can you say, oh, this one, I was doing this, I was processing this. I remember when I was doing this, I was processing this or even not even whatever it was, but like the emotions you were processing, does that, is that something that's common in art?
Sarah Ingraham:
I think so. I think most people feel that way. I think that's why they paint.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So having also spoken to writers in the past, what I've been interested to hear is that I can talk to a writer and I read all the work that they've ever done for example. And I'll attempt to go back and talk to them about one of their earlier pieces. And I've actually had feedback like, well, that's in the past now. I'm like, that's behind me. I don't revisit that anymore. I've moved on to the next piece. Do you ever have that feeling about your pieces?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I mean, every time I sell a piece, I'm like, I love it. Like, let it go. You know, it's like shedding that emotional process and it's letting go of things so I can move forward and process more.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So that would suggest that in some amount of time, maybe you will have processed everything fully and you'll be like a completely different person.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. And then I'll, you know, move on to something else.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. Maybe I mean, that's really interesting cause I'm not sure that everybody has the opportunity to do that type of processing.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah, I think it goes back to just the childhood thing and really using my hands as a way to express myself when I wasn't able to verbalize all the time. Yeah. Hopefully I keep using it in this way. I want my relationship to be like this, you know, my relationship with painting, I mean, to stay like this,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I know that a lot of writers do the same thing and I keep talking about writing because that's more my area. But then I have a lot of patients who don't seem to have any way of processing things and it just makes me think, Hmm. Maybe we should all have some form of art that we engage in because not only does it enable us to process, but it also can be a source of joy and satisfaction.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. You know, I think that's why people run. I think that's why people cook. I think it's important to have and obviously yeah there are other things too, like, I don't just paint, you know. I make rugs and I make pillows and I guess that process is more physical. I do hand hooked rugs and I feel like that's, that's really where I go when I'm like in like crisis mode is like just making these, these big thick rugs, you know, just the, the textile itself is just like comforting. But yeah, if I'm ever making rugs, my friends are like, okay, are you okay, Sarah?
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Oh. So other people do understand your code
Sarah Ingraham:
Very few, but yeah, the rugs are definitely a warning sign.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, you know, you bring up a good point with the cooking, because I know people that when they're stressed, they cook a lot. I won't notice that they're bringing a lot of baked goods into work. They'll be like just, you know, boxes and boxes of cookies that I was like, okay, what's happening here? Anything you wanna talk about? No, don't wanna talk about it, but here are the cookies. So, you know, it's great that you actually recognize that about yourself and that you have that outlet. I think about my sister, who's an orthopedic surgeon. She loves to craft so I think she also uses that as a way to just like, okay, here's something completely different. I get to do it with my daughter, you know? And it's something that really speaks to her in a way.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. Yeah. Use your hands, relax.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So you were a soccer player for many years, all the way up through, of course we talked about Greeley high school, Yarmouth high school. Our kids played against you, I believe. Yeah. And that's a very physical way of being in yourself. Do you, are you still doing anything athletic in your life now?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yes, I run a lot and it is great. I do miss the competitive aspect of sports, I think sometimes like I am a very competitive person and I think I think maybe I paint in a competitive way, like not in a competitive way, but it is definitely – I need to complete a certain amount by a certain time. I really like this kind of racing. I like to keep, you know, a schedule and I really there's a little bit of that there. I think that makes sense.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. No, it makes a lot of sense. And that's interesting because some people that I've talked to are more like you and they keep a schedule and they want to be really productive and they understand that if they're gonna make a living in this, that this is something that they need to do. And then I've talked to other people who are like, oh, you know, the thing about art is you have to wait till you're inspired and you know, it seems to me like, well, I mean, sure, you could wait till you're inspired, but if you actually wanted to make a living out of it, you're gonna go hungry. I think,
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah, it's work. You have to sit down. And even when you don't wanna be there, you have to do it. I mean, it is a lot, like, I think being a writer, like even if the ideas aren't coming, you still just sit down, put, put the work in because you know, that's how you have to make a living. It's a necessity. And also, you know, in more ways than for me, I think.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So how do you, how have you, as a person who's new to the process of selling your own art, how have you worked with this idea that this is your art it's very personal to you and at the same time, it's something that you want to share with other people in part, because you want it to and be part of your livelihood, like the marketing of art. How, how have you kind of reconciled those ideas?
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah, it feels a lot like I'm starting a small business. It is late nights and early mornings. Before I ever joined the Portland Art Gallery, I felt like I was like a, like a one man. I would do marketing. I would photograph, I would paint. I would source materials. It was just like nonstop. But I also like that. I like being in control and I think letting go of control is something that I have a harder time with. And I know I need to know that that's okay too, you know, that other people can handle things as well, especially in the beginning. Because I need help. You know, I can't just do it myself.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. I think that's you, you're raising a really important point and that's that any small business becomes kind of the, the thing that if you're the owner or the founder, you do all the time and that's really how it typically becomes successful. And if you're the artist and your product is you, then you're kind of balancing both of those things, the need to maintain your own creative space to create product and also be able to market the work that you've done.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yep. Yeah. It's fun though. The other jobs that I've had were great, but I definitely just need the freedom and I like being in charge of my time and my schedule and I've had a series of pretty, like pretty tough bosses, I think, especially early in, when you're working in New York in like your early twenties people don't really take you seriously. I think a lot of the time. And I decided that nobody was ever going to be responsible for my income and I think I've made that happen so far.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. That's a big step to take though to decide like, okay, I can decide to go the corporate route where somebody pays my salary and gives me health benefits and all that. Or I can really be dependent upon my own self, how you get to that place.
Sarah Ingraham:
Oh, well the design jobs in New York that I had in the beginning, they don't pay that well, it's a great experience and I definitely can thank them for a lot. But when I was working at the wallpaper place, I was also working nights for an artist that I really loved at the time. We were friends until we weren't. and I soon became his full-time assistant and really learned the ins and outs of how to be an artist, especially in New York. The Brooklyn arts scene is very exclusive, it's very political. If you don't have the right studio in the right place, like nobody, you know, anyway yeah, we had, I guess, a difficult relationship and he ended up firing me and at the time that was like the worst thing that could have happened. But it was good, it was actually the best thing that happened, I think out of maybe a little bit of spite and maybe, you know I'm a very stubborn person. I decided that, well, actually, you know, I'm gonna start painting because I know how to paint. And there's no reason I can't. So that's where it started. That's where, you know, the painting career began for me.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So, I love the fire in your belly. I love the fact that you're just not going to be taken advantage of. You're not going to let anybody tell you what to do and it's going to motivate you to actually create success for yourself.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I feel like a lot of people don't get it, I think. I don't know a lot of people who've been fired. Maybe people get fired all the time, but I think these things happen for a reason. And I think it was, it was good. I needed it.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I mean, I think actually a lot of people do get fired.
Sarah Ingraham:
See, I didn't know that at 25, I thought it was the end of the world. I thought, you know,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, but don't you think that's because it's not something a lot of people talk about?
Sarah Ingraham:
Definitely. Yeah. Because
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
It's, at the time it seems like, I mean, and I speak of somebody who also has been fired even as a doctor. Nice.
Sarah Ingraham:
Well, yeah.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Right. So we're, we're not an exclusive club, I don't think, but it feels better to say that. Yeah, in my case it was just that our healthcare organization was cutting down on the amount of money they were spending and said, like, well, you're too expensive. Sorry. I'll see you later. And that was really hard to take and I was relatively young, but it was, I felt such shame around it. You know, even though there was a lot, I couldn't really do anything about that. So I don't think a lot of people talk about it.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. It was. I was humiliated. Especially being that young, I was so attached to my job and what I did and I didn't realize that you could have two different identities. I don't know. I didn't tell anybody. I just started painting and I was like, yeah, I'm a full-time painter now. Like yeah, no, I chose this. This is great. But it started going well. And I think the hard part about the jobs that I had had, you know, I felt like there was so much resistance and when I started painting, it was like, suddenly, like everything kind of felt right. It was very authentic and like, you know, people were buying work and it, it just made sense. Like, it was kind of like why hadn’t this happened sooner? You know? So it was really reassuring. It was the craziest thing. Honestly, the fact that it just started rolling like that. So I,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, and like you, I feel like being fired actually was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me because it did kind of move me in a different direction. And also like you, it was very interesting because it was like different things started to show up different opportunities. I was also very motivated to be like, well, you're not gonna tell me how to feel about myself. And I think that you're right. It opens something both internally and externally if you can let that happen. But not everybody does. I mean, I've talked to people who are scarred for life and never wanna talk about it. And you know, 50 years later they'll be telling about this incident that happened. I'm like, Hmm. I'm like that hasn't really benefited you much.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I think I just got lucky. I think it would've been harder. Had it been a different kind of work or a different place, but because I had this personal relationship with this artist, I was able to really not take it personally, you know, it was just, he wanted whatever he wanted, and I wanted something else too.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. I mean, isn't that most situations where it's just a fit, you know, and it doesn't make you a bad person because you don't fit into what somebody else wants.
Sarah Ingraham:
No, I just wanted to be a painter and I just didn't know it yet. So
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well that's good. So now how are you going to be working with the Portland Art Gallery? I'm kind of interested to hear this because you've been so independent and you've, you're so motivated, but you've done all your own stuff. So tell me about what that transition's gonna look like for you.
Sarah Ingraham:
Oh, I think it's gonna be great. I'm really excited. I'm so ready to have other people helping because I used to sell work through websites and I would do all of the promotional stuff and it was just such a task to just launch everything and it was great. I sold work consistently, but what's so cool about Portland Art Gallery is as soon as I finished a painting they just put it right up and it's just so easy and that's how I was running. I've worked with another gallery and they're very different and it's just nice to be with a place that feels like their workflow is the same as mine. So I think it'll go well.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. Well I do too. I just, I was interested to hear your perspective on this. Especially as someone who's so recently moved from doing all the work herself to having somebody else work with you. Also it sounds like different galleries have different approaches.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah. I mean, they're totally different. It's just like working with a totally different company. There's a gallery in New York that I work with and they have a totally different strategy and format and you kind of have to, you do have to shift the way you work depending on who you're with.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Do you have much of an artist community?
Sarah Ingraham:
Not, no, not really. I think when I was working in the Brooklyn arts scene, it was – so I live in Sunset Park, South Brooklyn, and most of the artists live in Ridgewood Bushwick. It's very much the scene there. But I kinda like it. I don't need a lot of outside influences for me to work. You know, I work in total solitude. I need my space and my quiet. But I think it'll be nice to meet some of the artists at the Portland Art Gallery. I admire a lot of their work, so it'll be nice to just talk to them I think.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yeah. And I mean, I've had really the good fortune to talk to many of the artists now for this podcast. And it's not that you have to be a part of a group, but if you are with the right group, then actually it can be very beneficial. And, I do think that the Portland Art Gallery artists by and large are very supportive. They really care about each other's lives and the work that everybody's doing and also respect the fact that again, you are trying to sell pieces. So everybody understands that this is simultaneously a creative pursuit and also their livelihood. So, it's the right group of people.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah, it's exciting. I mean, I can't wait to talk to them.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well obviously we have Paige who you and I both feel, we both love, so she's awesome. And if she's representative of the gallery, then I think you'll like the other people that you'll get the chance to meet. Yeah. Well, Sarah, anything that you think people would like to know about you as an artist or anything that people would be surprised to hear, but pleasantly so,
Sarah Ingraham:
Well, if anyone is listening, I really want to do more murals. So if anyone has a wall, all that they want painted, I'm your girl.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
I love that. So you're equally able to do things on a large scale.
Sarah Ingraham:
Yeah, I actually prefer it.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And that probably is a little hard to do in your Brooklyn apartment right now.
Sarah Ingraham:
It definitely is.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Okay. Well I bet we have people with walls in Maine that need to be filled up. So I'm glad that you brought that up. We'll see what we could do about that. I've been speaking with artist Sarah Ingham, who is really quite wonderful and I appreciate all of your honesty today. Glad to hear that. I'm sure other people, if you're watching, you probably have been fired too. So we're all in one group that nobody wants to talk about, but that's not even the most important takeaway from our conversation. The most important takeaway is that you can learn more about Sarah and her work at the Portland Art Gallery in Portland, Maine. And also you can go to the art gallery website and come meet her at one of our upcoming openings, if she's able to make it down from Brooklyn. And also if you have a wall that you would like to have filled with beautiful, colorful art we think Sarah is your person. This is Dr. Lisa bale. You have been listening to or watching radio Maine. And thank you so much for coming in today.
Sarah Ingraham:
Thanks for having me.
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