‘What Would You Stand For?’ – Sara Phemister – the bid is at $120

Sara has raised children, become an essential part of the ACT community, and preserved hundreds of every-day moments in oils.

Most recently she completed the accompanying illustrations for the newly-released picture book  ‘Molly and Maple: The Guide Dogs Who Changed Nettie’s World’, by Barbie Robinson.

Sara is a uniquely warm and welcoming person who manages to approach life and the people she encounters with so much bubbling good humour and compassion, that her uplifting view of the world never ceases to create ripples of kindness.

She does not fit the traditional obsessive artist archetype:  brooding, pensive and entirely wrapped up in their own work, yet her life and art do tell a story of gentle obsession. Sara pays reverent attention to all the micro details of every day life. Every part of her world has significance. Walking through the gate to the garden, which sprouts iron dandelions, created by husband and fellow artist Al Phemister (also part of the Hope Flies project!) and great banks of real wildflowers she has planted with care, is an enchanting experience. Passing along the winding stone path, one can almost hear the fairies conspiring in the Elm trees.

The bright green house at the heart of the garden, is adorned outside and inside with art, on all surfaces, even under foot.

‘I do love where we live. It is not just a house to me,’ Sara says. ‘It’s the stories it holds. I feel like it’s almost my second skin. I love the big trees and having the river there. I actually physically love the house as well.’

Her home is so much a part of her and her art that for a recent unique exhibition of her work at the marvellous Tyger Gallery in Yass, a good portion of her furniture was transported temporarily to the gallery, at the suggestion of her daughter. It was a fabulous idea and the exhibition was fittingly called ‘At Home with Sara’.

In the art there are many repeated symbols, roses, blackbirds, black labradors, Nick Cave and Sara’s two children. These same children and other loved ones have enthusiastically bidden by Sara, made their own marks.

‘I encourage the people I love to graffiti my house,’ Sara laughed. ‘That way I have a little piece of their soul as mine to keep!’

There is a celebration and a rejoicing in small things, every item specifically chosen. In this way Sara seamlessly blends life with art. She also compulsively memorialises her life through photos and artworks, her paintings translating as a detailed visual diary.

Sara prefers to work predominantly with oils, often on board. At times she also dips into watercolours. Preceding this, are many daily sketches, produced with a few skilful pencil strokes.

Most often she focuses her tools on the various details of her home, and the people and animals that pass through it. The artworks habitually move through themes of family, hearth, home, love, vulnerability and domesticity. Sara is particularly in love with primary hues.

Looking at Sara’s paintings, we come to see her world through her eyes, humble daily objects and interactions suddenly transform into beacons of prosperity and peace. Though, Sara’s artworks are indeed very heartwarming, she also has a penchant for mischief and fun, which comes through most often in paintings of her beautiful black Labrador Beppo.

In one of these portraits, Beppo sports a particularly cheeky grin, mid tail wag, it bears the title ‘Beloved Delinquent’. (You can see Beppo supervising activities and get a glimpse of the very special house in the Making the Kite article on this site.)

Asked about her inspirations, Sara is inspired by an ever- growing list of artists, but she mentions two in particular.

‘My favourite book that I re-read regularly, that always fills me with hope is ‘The Little White Horse’ by Elizabeth Goudge,’ she said. ‘Then there is a song, that Mikelangelo has – ‘The Sun Will Shine In’’

The many artists’ work in her home are organically absorbed into her work so that her paintings often take the form of love letters to her favourites objects. For example, a piece titled ‘Home Gallery’ shows a little corner of her home, which including her daughter’s photography. However, there are a few artists that have imbedded themselves into indelibly into her life and practice. Amongst these in particular are Nick Cave and Van Gogh. Many of Sara’s landscapes pay homage to Gogh’s wavy cypress trees, with similarly undulating clouds. One of her favourites of Gogh’s is ‘Green Wheat Field’.

Sara’s paintings also depict Nick Cave over and over. His gaunt and moody face on a T-shirt drying in the sun, his book leaning amongst others on a shelf. With overlapping loves, this same shirt appears on her son (Jack), in another painting.

She says songs are particularly inspiring to her. ‘Especially all of Jack’s (her son) and all of Nick Cave’s.’

Through these artworks one gradually begins to follow the lives of various objects. The candle holders, reappearing items of clothing, jugs, plates, migrating furniture and much more.

One of Sara’s favoured nooks, is the little window seat in their dining room. ‘It used to be a chimney and that room did feel a lot like a cave [laughs]. But, when the kids were little, Hannah was such a reader, and I said to Al, maybe you could fashion a window seat. She did used to always read there, which was beautiful.’

When it came time to make her kite, Sara couldn’t help but think back to an exhibition titled ‘What Would You Stand For’ curated by Isobelle Carmody.

‘I remembered there were two kids there and the way they engaged with Isobelle was just so beautiful. So I’ve actually captured a moment from that night. This little kid had just made a sign that said ‘yes for peace’, and Isobelle’s sign was propped against the wall. Their shapes were so lovely. I really did actually want to paint Isobelle. Even at the beginning, before I knew what the imagery would be, because I feel like she is fundamentally one of the most hopeful and optimistic people I’ve ever met. She creates things that do fly.’

During this interview, Sara mentions various animals, particularly the dogs in her life. Before we started our interview, she was humorously self-effacing, wondering whether her answers would be interesting enough. To illustrate this, she references a possible answer to one of the questions, that being her only real childhood wish being for a dog. I knew then, it would be easy to form an article around her. The purity of a dog seems the perfect representation of Sara’s understanding and love towards things some might dismiss as mundane.

‘I remember one dream so vividly,’ Sara laughed. ‘In it we went to the RSPCA, I was five and we got a sausage dog and I was so happy. Then I woke up and realised it was a dream and I was absolutely heart broken. So, my parents  took me to the RSPCA and then I got my first dog Goldie. She was a dainty, golden labrador.’

by Adelaide Stolba