Sara Larkin

Sara Larkin gained national attention for "Spacescapes" — a continuing series of paintings celebrating America's achievements in space. She researched these paintings by working directly with astronauts and scientists at NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Biography

Sara Larkin was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1956. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she developed a lifelong association with Will Barnet. After graduation she continued her education in Japan under the sponsorship of the distinguished philosopher, advisor to the Emperor of Cultural Affairs and President of Osei University, Tetsuo Tanikawa. Under his tutelage she became acquainted with Nobel Laureate, Yasunari Kawabata, and other National Living Treasures of Japan. She spent a year in Bangkok, Thailand as the Women's and Social Editor of The Bangkok World. In Hong Kong, she studied Chinese art with artist, Lui Shou-Kwan, and Lawrence Tam, the Director of the Hong Kong Museum. She also spent this time in Hong Kong, as a gallery owner, consultant, and artists’ agent. In 1971 she became Mrs. Richard Lacey and in 1974 his widow.

In 1974 under the auspices of the Hong Kong Arts Festival she, with her husband, organized its first exhibition of contemporary Chinese Art. She produced Shui-mo (Water and Ink) which discusses the status of the contemporary state of the Chinese painting tradition in the 20th century.

From 1977 until 2002 Larkin maintained a studio/gallery in Washington, D.C. and developed her skills and reputation as a professional artist. In 1992 she moved to Annapolis, Maryland, where she served as Artist in Residence at St. John's College as well as continued in her duties as professional artist and dealer. Until it was discontinued, in 2003, Larkin was a Sotheby Associate evaluating works of art for online auctions.

Awards and distinctions

Larkin has been awarded a special commendation from the Governor of Hong Kong and the U.S. Consulate for special contributions toward Eas-West cultural understanding. In 1976, she was a lecturer at the Smithsonian Institution on Modern Chinese Art, a field in which she has gained acknowledged scholarship. She was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship in 1981. Also in the 80's she was commissioned by NASA as one of the nation's artists commissioned to document the U.S. Space Program.

Quotes about Sara Larkin

• "Sara is an outgoing and well traveled individual with knowledge of the fine arts, notably in Oriental art. In addition, she is an accomplished painter and scholar. While she does an occasional portrait, her specialty is interpretations of "space"...that is, pictures dealing with the adventure of NASA" - S. Raymond Kinstler
• "The success of these works is due both to their laconic conception and to the painstaking techniques with which they were executed. At a time when most artists toying with the theme of space confine themselves to a new technological romanticism, Ms. Larkin experimented successfully in a kind of hyper-realism." -S. Frederick Starr
• "In addition to her sound training in Western art, both in theory and in practice, she has a special aptitude in Chinese painting appreciation and its philosophy." - Laurence C.S. Tam (Past Director, Hong Kong Museum of Art)
• "When I first saw your paintings, I was struck by their Zen quality, the impeccable clarity of all the facts and phenomena that also inspire me to itch, pry and probe the details of our tenure on Earth." - Joseph S. Lewis (Fashion MODA Gallery)
• "Sara Larkin is an important artist. I believe there is no possibility for a perspective on our times unless the [sic?] are interpreted creatively by the artists among us. I believe she has completed a considerable body of work on the creative interpretation of our endeavors in space, what it can mean for us to look upon ourselves at such distances. Now, she has turned to the personal dimensions of the devastation wrought upon others by those who seek power. In this latest of her works, as always, the human spirit finds its won capacity to blossom." - J.H. Beal, Astrophysicist (St. Johns College, Annapolis, Maryland)
• "This retrospective show by Sara Larkin is an unusual exhibition which demonstrates a multiplicity of talent and a range of aesthetic and artistic elements which takes in the entire sphere of ones spirit. She proceeds form the global perspective of her spacescapes to intimate human expressions of her expressionist work and of her ladies. Sara taps an intense emotional visual. Her Ladies evoke an intimate expression of strength in solitude contrasting the inner world with the outer world." - Will Barnet
• "Her largest collector describes Sara as - ‘Ahead of the learning curve’." - Tom Clancy
• "As an astronaut, pilot Gemini VI, Commander of Gemini IX, Apollo X, and Apollo-Soyuz, I can speak with authority as to the contribution I feel Sara Larkin has made with these paintings which portrays mans’ first exploration of space. With these images, she has added to the visual history of world civilization and to culture in its broadest sense. The artist has capture in her painting such as "Earth Rising" based on a photo I took on my Apollo X Mission, the wonder of one of the first times Earth was viewed as an entity from the moon. Earth seen from this perspective, changed forever the consciousness of mankind. Only a contemporary artist could or ever will be able to capture the sensibilities of the time, the day the world stopped to watch a man step on the moon and the dawn of global thinking in a very real sense. I am proud to have been a part of completing that history." - General Thomas P. Stafford

Exhibits by year

1983: National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.; University of Houston, Houston, Texas; Alabama Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville Alabama, Pan American Health Organization.
1984: Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio; NASA Visitors Center, Mississippi; Dansforth Museum, Framingham, Massachusetts; Old State House, Hartford, Connecticut; Museum of Science and Natural History, St. Louis, Missouri; Kansas Cosmophere & Discovery Center, Hutchinson, Kansas; Brevard Art Center and Museum, Melbourne, Florida.
1985: Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida; University of Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum, Logan, Kansas; Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
1986: El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas; Expo ’86, Tokyo, Japan; Heritage-Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, Moorhead, Minnesota; Govinda Gallery, Washington, D.C.; National Arts CLub, Membership Show.
1987: John F. Kennedy Space Center, Spaceport USA; Exhibition of Permanent Collection, Federal Reserve, Washington, D.C.
1989: Mass Bay Community College
1990: One Woman Retrospective at the Alpha Gallery, Rockville, Maryland; Oklahoma Air & Space Museum.
1992: The Arts Club of Washington, D.C.
1993: Convington and Burlington, Washington
1998: National Women's Museum
1999: National Women's Museum
2006: Retrospective Third Millennium Gallery, Annapolis, Maryland

References

• NASA and The Exploration of Space, Launius and Ulrich, Publisher Stewwart, Tabori & Chang, New York (1998)
• January, Washington International, Washington Personality (1990)
• April/May, Ad Astra, The Magazine of the National Space Society (1990)
• Who's Who of American Women (1986)
• October, Space World, Space Art (1982)
• The National Arts Club, Tribute to Apollo 17 (1982)
• Town & Country, Expatriates in Hong Kong (1973)
• June 16, The Washington Post, Style, An Artistic Education of Ginger Jars and Zen, Henry Mitchell (1978)
• December 11, San Francisco Chronicle, Artist Who Recorded US Space Travels (1982)

External links

• Sara Larkin's website

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Name	Larkin, Sara
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Date of birth	1946
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