Sara Switek
Ceramics
209.286.1283
Switek Studio
4102 River Ridge Road, San Andreas
209.286.1283
Switek Studio
4102 River Ridge Road, San Andreas
Art has always been in the fibers of my existence. With a long history of artists in my family, I was compelled to do some form of creative art since childhood. Growing up in the Midwest, I was highly influenced by the life and times of my mother’s aunt, Mary Sullivan, who was a cofounder of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her personal modern art collection at her death in 1939 passed down through the family, which gave me the amazing ability to grow up playing Barbie dolls next to a Degas bronze.
My career in art began with an Art Education degree from Indiana University. I taught art in Indianapolis, Ind. and St Simons Is., Georgia. While in Georgia, I met my husband. We moved to the Bay Area, where we started a family and a business, Creative Viewpoint Machinery.
Though I maintained a steady flow of art interests, I became very involved in volunteer humanitarian work with “The Macedonian Outreach”,(Nonprofit Organization which provides aid to the Balkans) based in Danville, Ca. and Katirini Greece. Through this organization I spent several summers teaching Albanian street children art at month - long summer camps. During these years of volunteerism, I also worked with an organization in Uganda to teach art projects to orphaned children of AIDS victims. Eventually this led to my husband and I starting a charity in the Bay Area, Industrial Surplus Foundation. My humanitarian work with African women and Eastern Europe Gypsies has had significant influence on my figurative forms.
Wanting to move closer to nature, we purchased some land in Calaveras County in 2002. Our 1st project was to build an art studio, inspirational in setting and design. . My creative interests were then fulfilled in the designing and building of an artistic dwelling to house my art and maybe a little room for my husband and I.. Never having an official space to work, my art has taken a huge leap.
As an art educator, I have done many forms of art from printmaking to watercolor, oil painting and weaving. For the last 20 years I have focused mainly on working with clay. I took numerous classes with well known potters during the last 15 years at Civic Arts studio in Walnut Creek. My main focus was in doing alternative type firings with Peter Cousoulis. For the last 3 summers, I have taken a two week wood fire workshop with Jason Hess at Northern Arizona University.
At my studio, I have a salt and Raku kiln. I do decorative and functional wheel work though my preference is for sculptural forms. Most of my work has a strong textural element. I love to combine the natural surface textures found in nature with the creation of human and decorative forms.
Marketing and exhibiting my work has only recently been a priority as I have narrowed my focus in life to a more serious artistic development. Presently, I am expanding my involvement in shows and gallery exhibits. I also have several shows a year in my studio here in Mokelumne Hill.
My career in art began with an Art Education degree from Indiana University. I taught art in Indianapolis, Ind. and St Simons Is., Georgia. While in Georgia, I met my husband. We moved to the Bay Area, where we started a family and a business, Creative Viewpoint Machinery.
Though I maintained a steady flow of art interests, I became very involved in volunteer humanitarian work with “The Macedonian Outreach”,(Nonprofit Organization which provides aid to the Balkans) based in Danville, Ca. and Katirini Greece. Through this organization I spent several summers teaching Albanian street children art at month - long summer camps. During these years of volunteerism, I also worked with an organization in Uganda to teach art projects to orphaned children of AIDS victims. Eventually this led to my husband and I starting a charity in the Bay Area, Industrial Surplus Foundation. My humanitarian work with African women and Eastern Europe Gypsies has had significant influence on my figurative forms.
Wanting to move closer to nature, we purchased some land in Calaveras County in 2002. Our 1st project was to build an art studio, inspirational in setting and design. . My creative interests were then fulfilled in the designing and building of an artistic dwelling to house my art and maybe a little room for my husband and I.. Never having an official space to work, my art has taken a huge leap.
As an art educator, I have done many forms of art from printmaking to watercolor, oil painting and weaving. For the last 20 years I have focused mainly on working with clay. I took numerous classes with well known potters during the last 15 years at Civic Arts studio in Walnut Creek. My main focus was in doing alternative type firings with Peter Cousoulis. For the last 3 summers, I have taken a two week wood fire workshop with Jason Hess at Northern Arizona University.
At my studio, I have a salt and Raku kiln. I do decorative and functional wheel work though my preference is for sculptural forms. Most of my work has a strong textural element. I love to combine the natural surface textures found in nature with the creation of human and decorative forms.
Marketing and exhibiting my work has only recently been a priority as I have narrowed my focus in life to a more serious artistic development. Presently, I am expanding my involvement in shows and gallery exhibits. I also have several shows a year in my studio here in Mokelumne Hill.
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