Sally C. Garner is a fiber artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been creating fiber sculptures and 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 like VHS tape to create works that incorporate both the nostalgia associated with traditional crocheting and the contemporary appeal for artwork that abstracts metaphors of memory 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 earn her masters degree. 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 dyeing and machine sewing. It was during this time that she began seeking a connection between humanity and the environment with her artwork, 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 symbolic connection to knowledge and technology.

Sally has shown her work nationally and internationally, in group and solo exhibitions. Her work has received awards from International Sculpture Center, Fiber Art Now, National Basketry Organization, and Surface Design Association, among others. Recently, she was the Fibers Artist in Residence at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tennessee. During the year-long residency, she taught courses at Tennessee Tech University, taught and assisted workshops at the craft center, and worked as the fibers studio technician, all while expanding upon her current body of work, the Symbiosis series. Sally currently teaches foundational art courses part-time at Tulsa Community College and consults for a grant-funded visual art project as the artist-in-residence at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK.

Sally is currently a 2025 recipient of the Artist Creative Fund, a $10k grant given to 20 artists each year. The ACF is a program of the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) that provides funding, visibility, and professional development to artists and creatives living and working in Tulsa, Oklahoma. GKFF is working in partnership with Creative Arkansas Community Hub & Exchange (CACHE), which leads the program, application process and professional development. Find out more information on ACF here.

Artist Statement

I will forever be inspired by the weird and beautiful complexities that are found in nature. A few years ago, during an artist residency in Ireland, I experimented with weaving living seaweed at low tide, documenting the impromptu pieces knowing that over time the rising waves would unravel everything I had done. Since then, my work has been focused on considering the environmental impacts of our actions, especially the manipulative human nature of speeding up processes, skipping vital steps, and using up resources faster than they can be replaced, all for economic gain without regard for future consequences. Using the loom and woven structure as a metaphor for technology, my sculptural textile work reflects on both advanced and low-tech ways of interacting with the world. I am also interested in materiality — my current attention is on the role of plastics invading our the ecosystem. A completely unnatural material, plastic is a toxic manifestation of the idea that we “need” to be separated from our unsterile environment for the sake of convenience. Ultimately, my practice visually shares information and inspires others to take notice of the issues I am concerned about, calling for a more environmentally-friendly relationship with nature.

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
2020-2025:
Timeless Textiles, exhibition in print, Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ (Juried by Caroline Kaufman, Curated by Erika Hewston)
The Second Thing We Touch, Virtual Exhibition, The Museum of Americana (Curated by Sapira Cheuk, four-person show)
Living (55 year anniversary exhibition), Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK (Invitational)
Summer Invitational 2024, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA (Invitational + Juried)
Craft/Work/Shop, Joe L. Evins Gallery, Appalachian Center for Craft, Smithville, TN (Invitational)
Process/Symbiosis, Studio Break Gallery, W. Chicago, IL (Two-Person)
Materials: Hard & Soft, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX (Juried by Ann B. Coddington, Du Q. Chau, Mary Hallam Pearse, and Eileen M. Wallace)
On the Matter of Symbiosis, Fiddlehead Gallery, The Silver Fern, Cookeville, TN (Solo)
From Fibers…, M.G. Nelson Family Gallery, Springfield Arts Alliance, Springfield, IL (Juried by Ann B. Coddington)
On Motherhood, Kyoto Shibori Museum, Kyoto, Japan (Juried by Soude Dadras of Ongoing Conversation)
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
Group Panel Discussion, Appalachian Center for Craft, Smithville, TN, October 4, 2023
Artist Talk and Art Walk/Hike, Yellow River Park, Stone Mountain, GA, April 9, 2023
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 Fellowships/Awards/Grants/Scholarships
Artist Creative Fund Recipient, George Kaiser Family Foundation
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
ISC Student Award, Honorable Mention, International Sculpture Center
Supplemental Funding Grant, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design