About

Based in Chatham, NY, Sarah Mijares Fick is a Filipina-American artist whose primary medium is clay. Her expansive sculptures are characterized by wild forms and gestural textures, crafted through traditional and experimental handbuilding techniques. Her work explores spiritual themes of interconnectedness, transformation, and our relationships with nature and the unseen.

Initially self-taught, Mijares Fick maintained a personal practice for years before studying under established ceramic artists in the U.S., South Korea, and Morocco. Her eclectic education, which spans cultures and continents, has significantly shaped her work and creative philosophy, as well as her respect for earth as a material.

Recognized as one of Hudson Valley’s top 30 artists under 30 by Times Union in 2023, Mijares Fick's work has been exhibited throughout the Hudson Valley and published in The Wall Street Journal and Architectural Digest Italia. Her most recent ceramic abstractions are currently on view in Shaping Shadows, a two-person exhibition at Mary MacGill Gallery in Germantown, NY.

 

             .                                             Image by Eimy Figueroa

 

My ceramic sculptures explore spiritual and philosophical concepts of oneness and our connection to all that is. I hand-squeeze hundreds of clay fragments before attaching them together, piece by piece, to create an ornate and textured web. Each individual fragment supports and merges with the next, forming a unified whole that reflects both individual and collective identity. Once covered in a stark white or bronze glaze, it is nearly impossible to determine where one fragment ends and another begins in the unified mass. The raw impressions of my fingers and palms remain embedded in the surface, becoming physical records of the moment my hands touched the clay.

The passage of time and the interconnectedness of all things are ongoing themes in my practice. My past work explores these same ideas in the form of undulating vessels which reference eroded rock formations. I began meditating deeply on these concepts when faced with series of losses that occurred over a four year period in my life. Each loss made me return to the same existential questions I often asked as a small child: Why are we here? What are we each meant to do with our time here? Do we remain connected to our loved ones and to this Earth once we are no longer bound by our bodies?

I continue to explore these questions as well as humans’ relationships with Mother Nature and the unseen through my ceramic sculptures and design works.

 

Images by Eimy Figueroa, Em McCann Zauder, and Sarah Mijares Fick.