ARTIST INFO

SARITA WESTRUP
Dallas, TX

TEXTILES | Sculptural Baskets

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2023, 2017

Artist Information | Studio artist; education: MFA University of North Texas; teaching: Penland School of Craft (NC), Oil and Cotton (TX), Modern Art Museum Fort Worth (TX), University of San Antonio (TX), Arts Fort Worth (TX), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), Southwest School of Art (TX), University of Rio Grande Valley, (TX), Pocosin School of Art (NC); exhibitions: Cluley Projects (TX), Arts Fort Worth (TX), Nasher Sculpture Museum (TX), Latino Cultural Center (TX), Signature Contemporary Craft Gallery (GA), Blue Spiral 1 Gallery (NC), Greater Denton Arts Council (TX), Praxis Gallery (OH)

Artist Bio | Sarita Westrup is a craft based artist and art educator of mixed Mexican descent living in Dallas, TX. Rooted in weaving techniques and bricolage, her sculptural basketry works are inspired by where she was born and raised, the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas – Mexico border. She received her MFA in Fiber arts from the University of North Texas in 2012. Most recently her work has been shown in “Materials Hards and Soft” at Greater Denton Arts Council in Denton, TX and in “Staked Out” at Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina. In 2022, she was accepted into the American Craft Council Emerging Artists Cohort receiving a $10,000 accelerator grant.

Artist Statement | My recent body of work translates my experiences crossing international checkpoints by car and by foot into woven tunnel-like forms. I am inspired by the Rio Grande Valley of the South Texas-Mexico borderlands, where I was born and raised. I use basketry, to emphasize tension and reflect on the social and political strain prevalent along the border region, marked by its walls and fencing. I combine metal and reed twining techniques with cement to transform the domestic basket into a representation of movement. The forms are woven, joined, mudded, painted, and rubbed with graphite and often reference drawing. My work is concerned with themes of migration, containment, joined and permeable space intuitively informed by the impact of border politics.