Artist Sasha Baguskas
Artist Statement: I make art but have no formal art education. I grew up in New York in an artist’s loft; my mother was a still life painter. I’ve worked in the same art establishment (Crown Point Press) for over two decades. In college, I wrote short stories, took photos, and made collages. I moved to San Francisco after college and fell in love with a musician. We had a baby, split up after ten years, and have raised our son together amicably since then. After the split, I started making watercolors, often collaging them together. A friend told me about a scanning app that could be used with the phone. Another friend told me about an online company that printed designs on-demand. I scanned my watercolors with the phone, created fabric designs, and had them printed onto fabric. As Prints & Spring (my small, home-based operation), I sew the fabric into pillow covers, tote bags, coasters, aprons, and quilts. I have sold the tote bags locally, at Park Life and Black Bird Bookstore. I collage fabric scraps to make wallpaper, using wheat paste as the glue. The impetus for creating fabric designs comes from my watercolors. I do think of watercolor as my primary medium. In 2021, I was commissioned to create murals for the offices of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Santa Clara County. My watercolors were the basis for the murals; they were scanned and upsized and printed onto wallpaper to create the murals for the office spaces. Prints of my watercolors were also framed and installed in the Center’s lobby. I have seen my watercolors, in the mural commission for the Children’s Advocacy Center, used successfully (at a large scale) to transpose a space. The fabric wallpaper I have installed in my home is unique and vibrant. I believe in color, form, and design. I have included JPEGs of the Center’s project, the fabric wallpaper, and three examples of my watercolors. As one can see, there are multiple applications that can be generated from them.
Why Are You a Good Fit for this Program? I would like to collaborate with a local Sunset business to create a unique space that will be enjoyed by my neighbors. Color, form and design are transformative.
