Sarah Wertzberger is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose creative work emerges from experimental material investigations into weaving and the autobiographical. Her work sits at the intersection of craft, digital space, design and painting. Her weaving practice spans hand, industrial, and digital weaving and utilizes weaving to conceptually embody ancient lineages of weavers and coded languages embedded in craft.
Sarah Wertzberger
Lives in Portland, OR
EDUCATION
2013 MFA in Textiles, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2003 BFA in Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
2002 Center for Arts and Culture, Studio Arts Program, Aix-en-Provence, France
2002 Yale University Summer School of Painting, Norfolk, CT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Heat Wave, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2019 Color Vision, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2019 Heath Finds, artist showcase, Heath Ceramics, San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Geotex, Jeff Lincoln Art + Design, Southampton, NY, Curated by Liz Colliins
2023 Digital Weaving Lab Alumni Exhibition, Praxis Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2023 Everything Leaves a Trail, Well Well Projects, Portland, OR, Curated by Jeremy Le Grand
2023 Weaving Data, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland, Curated by Theo and Nancy Downes - Le Guin
2023 Goosebumps Alive, Icelandic Textile Center, Blonduos, Iceland
2022 Sensate Objects, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR, Curated by Mel Prest
2022 Painters Painting, Melanie Flood Projects, Portland, OR, Curated by Melanie Flood
2022 Hearsay/Heresy, Spring/Break, Los Angeles, CA, Curated by Jay Gaskill
2022 Winter Formal, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2020 If a Tree Falls…, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2020 Future Timelike Infinity, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR, Juried by Michael Endo
2020 In Excess, Spring/Break Art Show, New York, NY, Curated by Sarah Darro
2019 Carriage, Holding Contemporary at Vacation Gallery, NYC
2019 Threaded, at MCC, Juried by Mark Newport and Maria Elisa-Heg, Mesa, AZ
2019 No Place Like, Field Projects Gallery, NY, NY
2018 Faculty Biennial, The Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR
2017 Abstraction Since 1950: Modern and Contemporary Selections from the Collection, RISD Museum, RI
2013 Textile MFA Show, The Design Center, New York, NY
2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Convention Center, Providence, RI
2012 Textile MFA Show, The Design Center, New York, NY
2012 Designing Traditions, Asian Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2011 Content and Context, Textiles Biennial Show, Sol Koffler, Gallery, Providence, RI
CRAFT and DESIGN EVENTS
2021 Portland Textile Month, Material Innovation And New Traditions, Gallery Go Go, Portland, OR
2019 Portland Textile Month featured event, Color Vision at Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2019 Heath Finds, artist showcase, Heath Ceramics, San Francisco, CA
2019 Sarah Wertzberger X Matthew Philip Williams, Design Week Portland, at Woonwinkel, Portland, OR
2019 Colorful World, Woonwinkel, Portland, OR
2018 Portland Textile Month, Contemporary Threads, Portland, OR
2018 West Coast Craft Fair, San Francisco, CA
2018 AZ West Works Pop Up at the Hammer Museum Store curated by Andrea Zittel, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Grand Opening Event, Herman Miller Flagship, NY, NY
2017 Design Week Portland, Color and Clay, Woonwinkel, Portland, OR
2014 - 2016 Nike Craft Pop Up, Portland, OR
AWARDS
2022 Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant
2020 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship
2018 West Coast Craft Scholarship
2013 Toby Devan Lewis Award (Shortlist), Rhode Island School of Design
2002 Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, Yale Summer School of Art, Norfolk, CT
1999 Presidential Merit Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
LECTURES
2024 Virtual Artist talk University of Madison-Wisconsin Design Studies, Madison, WI
2024 Visiting Artist at Kansas University Fine Arts Department, Lawrence, KS
2023 Talk at Landdd, Portland, OR
2021 Virtual Panel: Material Innovation And New Tradition, Portland Textile Month, Portland, OR
2020 Virtual Artist Talk, American Institute of Architects, Creativity Conference, Los Angeles, CA
2020, 2023 Virtual Artist Talk, Stanford, Department of Applied Physics, Weaving on Computer Controlled Looms, Stanford, CA.
2020 Artist Talk, Reed College, Department of Art, Portland, OR
2019 Artist Talk, Western Oregon University, Department of Art, Monmouth, OR
2018 Asterisk in Residence, PNCA Applied Craft and Design Program, Portland, OR
2017-2019 Artist Talk, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
RESIDENCIES
2023 Pentaculum 2023, Arrowmont School of Craft
2023 Icelandic Textile Center TC2 residency, Bloundous, Iceland
2021 Praxis Fiber Workshop, Digital Weave Lab Residency, Cleveland, OH
2018 Asterisk* in Residence, Applied Craft and Design program PNCA, Portland, OR
2018 Artist-in-Residence, TC2 loom, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
2017 Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Open Studio Residency, Deer Isle, ME
2016 The Weaving Mill, Chicago, Chicago, IL
2016 AZ West, Encampment, Joshua Tree, CA
COLLECTIONS
RISD Museum of Art
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023 Cultured Magazine, 3 Places to Seek Out Cutting-Edge Design Projects in the Hamptons This Summer
2022 Oregon Arts Watch, Quiet in the chaos: Mel Prest at the Schneider Museum of Art
2022 Warp and Weft Field Notes, Artist Interview
2022 Art and About Painters Painting at Melanie Flood Projects, Portland, OR
2021 Sight Unseen Saturday Selects by Jill Singer
2020 Dovetail Magazine Issue 01 (available in hardcopy).
2020 Hyperallergic, Spring/Break Art Show Is a Work of Art Worth Diving Into by Seph Rodney
2019 The Oregonian, 11 Portland art exhibits to freshen up your fall
2019 Heath Journal, Q & A with Sarah Wertzberger
2019 Metropolis, Sarah Wertzberger Melds Handweaving, Industrial Processes, and Painting in Her Textiles
2019 Design Milk, Sarah Wertzberger’s Original Modern Blanket Designs
TEACHING
2017 - 2019 Adjunct Faculty, Intro to Weaving; Pattern and Structure, Digital Jacquard Weaving, OCAC, Portland, OR
2017 - 2022 Mentor/Committee member, PNCA Applied Craft and Design MFA Program, Portland, OR
2017 - 2019 Mentor/Committee member, Oregon College of Arts and Craft, Portland, OR
2013 Instructor, The Woven Rug, RISD Winter-session, Providence, RI
TEACHING: SELECTED WORKSHOPS
2020 Weaving Instructor, Gerri Ondrizek’s class Craft and Culture, Reed College, Portland, OR
2019 Instructor, Experimental Surface Design, WildCraft Studio School, Portland, OR
2018- 2019 Weaving Instructor, Weekend Weaving Intensive, WildCraft Studio School, Portland, OR