Sara Peak Convery
STATEMENT
It was after she completed her award-winning documentary "I Never Said I Wasn't Happy"(2013) that she decided that making art suited her personality better than filmmaking. Prior to the 2016 election, much of her work was in the realm of personal history - photographing and painting family and friends. Immediately after that election she began reconfiguring US flags in protest. Following Joe Biden's election in 2020, she initiated a group collaboration by soliciting friends on Facebook to contribute red and blue materials for an oversize wall hanging based on the electoral college votes (306 blue and 232 red). The first 'quilt' was "HEAL". The second, "RIFT", was created in the ongoing aftermath of The Big Lie. "RIFT" was installed for a year outdoors on a brick wall, weathering and sun fading but remained intact. In the fall of 2023, another artist friend gave Sara a stash of paintings made by her mother and aunt (deceased in early 2000s) to use as she wished. This gift initiated "The Wohl Sisters Collaboration Series": the original underpaintings remain somewhat visible, amended with grids and color blocks and/or stenciled words. "Waiting For the Sun" is a small ink drawing inspired by memories of her first childhood home, after she learned that that house had been torn down.
BIO
Sara Peak Convery is an Iowa-born, Chicago based visual artist who enjoys working in a variety of media. There was a significant gap between her art studies (University oi Iowa, BFA with Honors; University of Illinois at Chicago, MFA) and her decision to actively pursue exhibiting her work. Her 2017 cancer diagnosis and treatment also inspired an ongoing body of work. During the pandemic, she began to remotely collaborate with several artist friends - exchanging materials or unfinished works.