Sarah Field Sonnenberg

Sarah Field Sonnenberg is an oil painter, art educator, muralist, and advocate for inclusion and diversity in the arts based in Buffalo, NY. Her recent body of work explores the intricate relationship between gender, nature, and societal perceptions.

In her oil paintings, Sonnenberg skillfully merges the forms of women with flowers, plants, and insects. Through this blending, she challenges viewers to question boundaries between the human form and the natural world, engaging their gaze in an oscillation between foreground and background. This visual ambiguity serves as a lens to examine themes of youth, womanhood, beauty, and the historical objectification of women, using flowers as a poignant metaphor for living decorative objects.

Sonnenberg draws her artistic inspiration from female poets, with a particular affinity for the wisdom of Mary Oliver. Often, lines from these poems become titles for her paintings, imbuing her creations with an additional layer of literary depth.

Through her art, Sonnenberg critiques the historical practice of using women as decorative objects in art, akin to the painting of flowers, shedding light on enduring issues of gendered objectification. Her paintings masterfully balance the decorative and surreal, celebrating the intricate beauty of the natural world while honoring the resilience of the feminine spirit.

Sonnenberg's art serves as a conduit for advocating diversity, challenging conventional beauty standards, and critiquing the historical treatment of women as art objects. She invites viewers to engage in a visual and emotional exploration of the profound connection between nature and the feminine form, fostering conversation and inspiring positive change in our culture's treatment of women in art and beyond.