Sabrina Lancaster - Artist Profile
- Laura Thipphawong
- Oct 17
- 6 min read
Website (Representing Gallery) - Micak Gallery
Instagram - @quiltofsnakes
Why do you make art?
A creative soul withers without an outlet. If I am not creating, I am not truly living.
How do you feel when you’re making art?
When I have an idea for a piece, it tends to consume me. It’s all I can think about until I have expelled the idea from within and can see it tactilely in front of me. There is a sort of euphoria that comes when you manage to make something work that wasn’t quite working before. I haven’t felt this kind of feeling anywhere else - it is so unique to my experience of art making.
What are the major themes of your work as an artist, and why do you work with these themes?
Love: Love is the thesis, the point of life itself. Love informs everything I do; therefore, it manifests naturally in my work. I like to take a moment, thought, or feeling from my experiences and see how it forms into a physical piece in my hands—a tender conversation about a shared future, a desire to share another moment with someone long gone, the moment when I finally understood the meaning of “family”. My experiences are specific, but the feeling is universal.
Self-Discovery: A strong curiosity about the world around me and the world within me makes self-discovery another important element of my work. How can I better understand myself through the images I create? My piece, Moon As My Witness, helped me process my awakening from a depressive fog that had dismantled my sense of self. When I look at this piece, it is like looking at myself in the mirror—a comforting reminder that, through it all, the core of who I am never left. This sort of self-analysis, always through the lens of hope and optimism, is as important to my work as it is to me.
What are some of the recurring motifs in your work, and what do they mean to you?
Snakes: Snakes have been my favourite animal since I was a child. When asked if I’m a dog or cat person, I’ve always replied that I’m a reptile person. I’m sure this began with my childhood love of dinosaurs, which soon gave way to a childhood love of mythology. The serpent as a mythological figure can be found in numerous cultures across the globe, and the ancientness of these creatures from an evolutionary and cultural standpoint is a deep well of inspiration for me. Above all of this, I simply find snakes to be adorable. I am drawn to misunderstood creatures—snakes, bats, and spiders are among my favourites. My daily companion - a jumping spider named Webby - watches me from her enclosure while I type this.
Celestial Bodies: The moon has called to me my entire life, so it is no surprise that she has a heavy presence in my work. A refrain often heard from me is “Look! The Moon’s out!” as if every sighting of her brilliance is as meaningful as the first time. I grew up with a love of science fiction thanks to my Dad, so outer space has always had its presence in my imagination. The addition of the moon, the sun, and the stars to my pieces instantly adds a sense of wonder to any landscape I work on, reflecting my deep respect for the forces of the Universe.
Landscapes: I am very inspired by the natural world and often look to the earth for much of my inspiration. Instead of trying to represent it as it is, I try to represent it how you might view it through the lens of a dream. A place that could be here, but not here, that could be another planet, a parallel world where the colour palette has shifted one colour to the left, or perhaps our world presently had the evolution of everything around us diverged on a slightly different path at some pivotal moment in its past.
What do you hope people feel when they look at your art?
I hope that it sparks their imagination.
What is the most personal piece of art that you’ve ever made, and what’s the story behind it?
The set together depicts a mirror image of a strong tree on a hill, one in blue, the other in pink. Hanging from each tree is a set of crystals anchored by a star on one and a heart on the other. I made these pieces as a thank you to my mother and my mother-in-law for organizing my bridal shower. All of my feelings of love, appreciation, and admiration for these two incredible women were poured into this piece. What they mean to me - and by extension the meaning of the piece - transcends words.
What advice would you offer other artists?
You cannot create something real and true if you have nothing to draw from. It is important to go out and have experiences, nourish your relationships, return to nature, take pictures of the things that inspire you, consume art in various forms, try new foods, and so on. These are examples of things you can do to fill your metaphorical well so that you have sufficient inspiration to draw from when you sit down and create your art. If you would like to learn more about the concept of filling the well, I highly recommend reading Julia Cameron’s book The Artist's Way.
The second piece of advice I have would be to go out into the world and meet people. If making content for social media does not fuel your creative soul, look around to see what opportunities your local community has to offer. Chances are, there are a lot more like-minded people than you’d realize.
What is your favourite piece of art that you’ve ever made, and why is it your favourite?
I got married on September 12th to my soulmate, Trevor. At our reception, we did a raffle for a piece of mine titled ‘One drop turned the lake to gold’. This piece was inspired by the deep love I have for my partner, and incorporated important materials that were representative of our shared story - pressed flowers from a bouquet he gave me, curtain scraps from my grandma, kimono pieces from our time in Japan, and pearls like the ones his mother gifted me to wear on my wedding day. To enter the raffle, guests answered a simple prompt asking for quotes about love or favourite shared memories. I was overjoyed to pass on this piece of our love to one of my best friends. The entire sentiment of this piece—from its creation to the act of passing it on to a new home—was a meaningful part of sharing our love with others.
What are the common characteristics of people who like your art?
On a technical level, people who crochet, knit, or sew (whether by machine or by hand) tend to have an immediate appreciation for the intricacies and time it takes to create my work.
On a conceptual level, I find that the people who resonate with my work tend to be a bit weird and a bit romantic (like myself).
What’s the best compliment someone could give you about your art?
That something in it moved them. Making art is such a deeply personal experience, so to have someone else look at what you created, the story you told, the feelings you put into it, and to resonate with that on an emotional level is an extremely rewarding by-product of creating.
What creative outlets besides art-making are important to you?
One of my lifelong creative outlets is hosting. I think this is an atypical answer to the prompt, but I see bringing people together as a deep and necessary outlet for my creative soul. As so much of my work revolves around love, sharing experiences and making memories with friends and family is critical to my artistic process. When I was a kid, I was deeply fortunate to witness my parents nourish their own friendships and family ties through pool parties, game nights, BBQs, holidays, and movie nights. To witness the gathering of people who elevated each other’s joy consistently throughout my life has made me deeply appreciate the importance of hosting as a skill. Not everyone possesses or chooses to hone this skill. I don’t mind being the one who organizes everything - to me, it becomes the easiest, most natural, and most rewarding thing in the world when you have people who consistently show up in all the ways that matter.
Why does making, sharing, and supporting human-made art matter to society at large?
Art makes us human. The power of our hands, minds, hearts - without that behind it, what point is there?
