Sarah Thibault is an artist, writer, and podcast host based in Los Angeles, CA. Her psychedelic landscape paintings push beyond the seen and the known to uncover the world beyond the veil. She mines her personal photographic archive, art history, and imagery from meditations and astral travel to investigate themes of death, renewal, and the mystical properties of nature.
Thibault is planning for a solo exhibition with Dreamsong Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, as well as a solo booth at Dallas Art Fair in April 2024. Past exhibitions include projects with Jerry Gogosian x Sotheby’s, The Pit and Good Mother Gallery in Los Angeles, Fahrenheit Madrid in Spain, and Casa Lu in Mexico City. Thibault and her work has been featured in W Magazine, Artsy, ArtMaze Magazine, CARLA, The San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, SFAQ, and The Huffington Post. She has been a Charter Resident of the Minnesota Street Project studios in San Francisco, CA since 2016. Sarah hosts a bi-weekly The Side Woo which interviews artists and practitioners about the intersection of mental health and metaphysics.
Previous projects include acting as Co-Director of the Royal NoneSuch Gallery in Oakland, CA, which was named as one of Artsy’s Best Bay Area Artist-Run Spaces, and Co-Director of The Painting Salon, a nomadic lecture series. She holds an MFA from the California College of the Arts, a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute, and a BA from the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
CV
Based in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2004 Bachelor of Arts at University of Wisconsin- Madison – Madison, Wisconsin
2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute – San Francisco, CA
2011 Masters of Fine Arts at California College of the Arts – San Francisco, CA
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS (*Press coverage)
2024
Things worth Saving, Dreamsong Gallery – Minneapolis, MN (forthcoming)
Dallas Art Fair Solo Booth with Dreamsong Gallery – Dallas, TX (forthcoming)
2022
Iceland Diaries, Dreamsong Gallery – Minneapolis, MN
2020
Winter Woods, Fahrenheit Madrid – Madrid, Spain**
Tepoztlan Diaries, Casa Lu – Mexico City, Mexico*
2019
Starfish, Royal NoneSuch Gallery – Oakland, CA***
2018
Project 15, C2C Project Space – Brooklyn, NY
Ways to Kill the Night, Beyond Beyond – San Francisco, CA*
2015
Staycation, Mark Wolfe Contemporary – San Francisco, CA***
2012
Coming Up Roses, Mark Wolfe Contemporary – San Francisco, CA
2011
Sarah Thibault: In the el, Mark Wolfe Contemporary – San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (*Press coverage)
2024
Pure Beauty, Eleanor Harwood Gallery – San Francisco, CA
2023
NADA, The Pit Palm Springs – Miami, FL
Vantage, Good Mother Gallery – Los Angeles, CA
Moving Mountains, The Pit Palm Springs – Palm Springs, CA
Group Exhibition, Part 2 Gallery – Oakland, CA
2022
Cute Gloom, Lauren Powell Projects – Los Angeles, CA
Night, Blue Door Gallery – Los Angeles, CA
The Algorithm is Always Right, Jerry Gogosian x Sotheby’s – New York, NY***
Jerry Gogosian at SPRING/BREAK – Los Angeles, CA
KAT/CAT, Galleri Specta – Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
Vignettes, False Cast Gallery – Los Angeles, CA
Cave Canum, Eve Liebe Gallery – London, UK
2020
Poem from Home, Jacob’s West – Los Angeles, CA*
No Time Like the Present, Public Gallery – London, UK*****
2019
I hope this finds you well, Eve Liebe Gallery – London, UK***
Pale Shelter, Part 2, Frappant Galerie – Hamburg, Germany
2018
Pale Shelter, Part 1, Axel Obiger – Berlin, Germany
Reaching Point Break, Guerrero Gallery – San Francisco, CA* (Front page of San Franciso Chronicle Arts Section)
Coffee for Eight, Part II Gallery – Oakland, CA*
Metaxis Uber Pool, HILDE TX – Houston, TX
2017
10 Artists Working at 1240 Minnesota Street, Minnesota Street Project – San Francisco, CA
Shelley, 326 Gallery – New York, NY*
Thinking of you, Incline Gallery – San Francisco, CA
RELAY, CTRL+SHFT Collective – Oakland, CA*
Apollo on Earth, HILDE Gallery – Los Angeles, CA**
me/you, C2C Projects – San Francisco, CA
Mind Control, Alter Space – San Francisco, CA*
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2023
The Space Program – San Francisco, CA.
Received an Alumni Grant to produce a live event at the ICA San Francisco in November 2023.
2022
SECA Award Nominee – SFMOMA – San Francisco, CA
2021
Nes Artist Residency – Skagaströnd, Iceland
2020
Casa Lu Artist Residency – Tepoztlan and Mexico City, Mexico
2019
Art Maze Magazine, Edition 15. “Reading in Bed,” 2017, featured on the cover. Interview with Artmaze Founder Maria Zamatova
Nes Artist Residency – Skagaströnd, Iceland
Plop Artist Residency – London, UK
Buinho Creative Lab – Messejana, Portugal
Lakkos Art Project – Crete, Greece
2018
SECA Award Nominee – SFMOMA – San Francisco, CA
TOSA Award Nominee – Minnesota Street Project – San Francisco, CA
2017
New American Paintings – Pacific Coast Edition. Featured artist.
2013
Tournesol Award Finalist, Headlands Center for the Arts – San Francisco, CA
2011
Artist-in-Residence, Vermont Studio Center – Johnson, VT
2009
ART in Embassies, American Embassy – Montevideo, Uruguay
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE ART COMMUNITY
2020 – present
Podcast Host & Executive Producer
2021-Present — The Side Woo – Co-Creator and Co-Host with Elizabeth Bernstein.
2020-2021 — Creator of Artists + Travel Blog and Podcast
2020
Host of the MSP.TV program COVIDeos
- Host & interviewer for a series of video interviews presented on Minnesota Street Project’s Instagram TV program, MSP.TV.
- Videos feature artists and writers from all over the world as a way to present a prismatic view of the COVID-19 quarantining experience and the way it has affected different subgroups of creative people.
2018 – Present
Freelance Writer
- Founder of Artists + Travel, an online resource for artists and writers about the logistics attending and making work at artist residencies
- Wrote 15 reviews and essays for SFAQ Online between 2013 & 2016
2018 – Present
Muralist
Executed large-scale murals on a volunteer/donation basis.
- Four murals in the Lakkos neighborhood of Heraklion, Crete as part of the Lakkos Art Project.
- One mural in Messejana, Portugal as part of the Buinho Fab Lab residency.
- One mural at Catfecito, a cat rescue center and cafe, in Mexico City, Mexico.
2017-2019
Graduate Advisor at California College of the Arts – San Francisco, CA
- Served as Advisor for an average of three graduate students per semester in CCA’s MFA program
2015 – 2018
Director of The Painting Salon – San Francisco / Oakland, CA
- Nomadic lectures series that hosted monthly talks with two to three local artists, with an emphasis on representing female-identifying, LGBTQ and POC artists.
- In 2016, along with Co-Director Cate Nelson, we won a Southern Exposure Alternative Exposure Grant for $5k allowing us to offer stipends to each artist.
- During my tenure as Director, I hosted 30+ lectures with over 75 artists.
- Featured artists include Sabina Ott, John Zurier, Linda Geary, James Gobel, Woody Othello, Alecia McCarthy and Maija Peeples Bright who gave us a guided tour of her home and studio in Rocklin, CA.
2015 – 2017
Co-Director at Royal NoneSuch Gallery – Oakland, CA
- Co-Directed artist-run space with Elizabeth Bernstein, Zoe Taleporos, and Dana Hemenway. During my time as Co-Director, I helped produce 17 exhibitions with over 30 artists.
- In 2015 we received the Southern Exposure Alternative Exposure grant for $5k, which we used to create the Royal Production Company.
- The RPC produced four films and four exhibitions with local artists, Kate Rhodes, Amber Cady, Bonanza LLC, and Carolyn Janssen. The series culminated in two sold-out film screenings at The Roxie.
- Featured in “The Bay Area Artist-Run (and Artist-Centered) Galleries You Need to Know,” on Artsy.com. August 10, 2016.
2017
Guest Curator for the annual MFA and BFA exhibitions, California College of the Arts – San Francisco, CA
Guest Juror for Spread, Embark Gallery – San Francisco, CA