Photo by Dave King

About Me

Sally C. Garner is a fiber artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been creating soft sculpture installation works ever since first learning that her love of fiber could inform her sculptural work at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. From a series of art that was first conceived in school, Sally crocheted art installations using non-traditional fibers to create works that incorporate both the nostalgia associated with traditional crocheting and the contemporary appeal for artwork that abstracts metaphors and enchants the senses.

After graduating with an BFA in Studio Art, Sculpture in 2013, she continued to live, work, and create art in the mountains of North Carolina until 2020, when she decided to begin graduate school. In 2023, Sally completed her MFA in Studio Art, Textiles at Georgia State University, in Atlanta, GA, where she experimented in fiber and textile techniques that were previously unavailable to her — weaving, wet-felting, knitting via machine, fabric dying and sewing. Her work is now trying to seek a connection between humanity and the environment, taking a critical eye to the changes we have tried to make so far. Weaving has become the primary tool that she wants to explore this concept with because of its metaphorical connection to knowledge and technology.

She is currently the Fibers Artist in Residence at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tennessee. While at the year-long residency, she will be teaching courses at Tennessee Technological University, teaching and assisting workshops at the Center, and working as the fibers studio technician, all while expanding her current body of work.


Curriculum Vitae

Education
MFA, Studio Art, Textiles, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA — 2023
BFA, Studio Art, Sculpture, University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC — 2013

Residencies
Artist in Residence - Fibers, Appalachian Center for Craft, Smithville, TN, August 15, 2023 - August 10, 2024
Open Studio Residency, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME, May 28-June 9, 2023
The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences, Ernest G. Welch Sponsored Residency for Studio Arts Hambidge Distinguished Fellow, Rabun Gap, GA, August 2-14, 2022
The Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland, June 6-22, 2022

Notable Exhibitions
2020-2023:
From Fibers…, M.G. Nelson Family Gallery, Springfield Arts Alliance, Springfield, IL (Juried by Ann B. Coddington)
Interference : Interwoven
, Jack Sinclair Gallery, ArtsXchange Southeast Community Cultural Center, East Point, Atlanta, GA (Solo)
UNCA Alumni Exhibition, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, UNC-Asheville, Asheville, NC (Invitational)
Entwined, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, curated by Madeline Beck (Invitational)
Little Things 2022, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA (Invitational + Juried)
Excellence in Fibers VII, exhibit in collaboration with Fiber Art Now Juried Exhibition in Print with the same name, Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY (Invitational)
Plush: Contemporary Soft Sculpture + Fiber Art Invitational, The Glass Gallery, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (Invitational)
2013-2019:
Making Meaning: Works from UNC Asheville Alumni, the John Cram Partner Gallery, Center for Craft, Asheville, NC (Invitational + Juried)
Rewound, Owen Hall Second Floor Gallery, University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC (Solo)
A Memory Rewound, The Satellite Gallery, Asheville, NC (Solo)
A Memory Rewound, The Waters Gallery, Florence County Museum, Florence, SC (Solo)
Rewind and Press Play, Highsmith Art + Intercultural Gallery, University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC (Solo)

Notable Lectures and Artist Talks
Lecture, in-person/virtual, Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance, Chamblee, GA, March 4, 2023
Panel Discussion, Invitational Alumni Exhibition, UNC-Asheville, Asheville, NC, February 18, 2023
Artist Talk, Tulane + GSU MFA Southeast Seminar, Stone Auditorium, Woldenberg Art Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, November 12, 2021
Lunch & Learn with Artist Sally Garner, Waters Gallery, Florence County Museum, Florence, SC, July 22, 2015

Notable Scholarships/Awards/Grants
Ernest G. Welch Fellowship from Georgia State University
The Joseph Perrin Award, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design
Hambidge Distinguished Fellow, Ernest G. Welch Sponsored Residency for Studio Arts in conjunction with The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences
Outstanding Student Award, Surface Design Association
Supplemental Funding Grant, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design

Photo by Angeli Wright

Photo by Angeli Wright