Special to the LPJ.
For as long as Sarah Dupree can remember, she has had a pencil in her hand. However, she says she didn’t seriously start making artwork until her senior year of high school.
“I had always had a passion for the arts, particularly music but when I lost a friend to cancer at the age of 17, I could no longer pick up my guitar or sit at my piano, so I threw myself into drawing instead. It gave me the solace that music just couldn’t at the time,” remembers Dupree.
Fast forward a few years, and Dupree never put down the pencil. She came to Ruston in the fall of 2020 to study art at Louisiana Tech. Dupree was one in the most recent slate of graduates to come out of the university, obtaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts just this May.
Dupree mainly works in traditional materials such as oil paints, charcoal, and graphite. She says that she is currently learning to use other traditional materials such as silverpoint as well.
Dupree claims that her art is often inspired by various conversations she has had or overheard about mental, spiritual, and emotional matters. She explained, “I have one piece called ‘Encounter’ which stemmed from many late-night talks with my partner and friends about what it would be like to face God.” It’s these sorts of deep and personal conversations that drive Dupree to dig deeper and find commonalities between herself and her community.
Dupree believes that art has an incredible ability to heal. She says that in many ways, she loves art because it not only provides a way for her to connect to the world around her but, more importantly, the healing nature of art is where her passion lies.
Dupree says she is often inspired by not only the work of famous artists such as Hilma Af Klimt and Firelei Baez, but also local artists such as her friend, Cullen Breux, and mentor, Nicole Duet. She says that watching other artists creating works right now is incredibly encouraging. “Now is the time where innovation in the arts is booming and it’s happening in the studio space right next to mine,” said Dupree. She explained that these kinds of artists inspire her to push the bounds of what she thinks art is supposed to be.
Quoting something Firelei Baez said in an old interview, Dupree explains that her goal is often to create ‘something that will grab your attention but at the same time give you rest.’ She wants to give the viewer something interesting to look at while also creating a space to engage in something deeper than what’s on just the surface.
Dupree hopes that her art will provide a message of hope; that no matter how bad things might get in the world at least there is someone else in our community who understands exactly what that person may be experiencing. The fact that a stranger can observe her work and tell her that they feel a kindred spirit with her, is proof enough for Sarah that gathering as a society might not be as difficult as we have thought.
Dupree says the best advice she can give to others considering pursuing the arts would be the same words her mentor told her, ‘Stop thinking so hard and just do it.’ She explains that people tend to get in their own way, because we are often our own worst enemy. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I would rather be an ally to myself in the pursuit of my dreams,” said Dupree.
You can find Dupree and her work on Instagram at sarahdupree, on Facebook at sarahdupreecreative, or on her website at sarahdupreecreative.com.
