Sarah Lejeune holds a BA in Art and English Literature from Smith College and an MFA in Painting and Sculpture from Claremont Graduate University.
Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States and is in private collections across the country. The City of San Diego owns a public art piece installed at the Belmont Comfort Station: Mission Beach. She was part of the defining group of artists at the Brewery Arts Complex forming the second wave of the downtown Los Angeles art scene. A guest lecturer in art and urban design at Smith, Wellesley Boston University, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, and others, she works in the disciples of painting, sculpture, photography, conceptual and performance art. Recent work focuses on 2-D mixed media. In addition to creating her own work, she consults for public art projects that promote human interaction in the public realm.
The following sections show groups of selected work. Please contact Sarah directly (see contacts page) for information about purchase and commissions.
2023 - 2024 A Year of Egrets
This life we have feels so fragile- subject to fires, rockslides, floods, and the unpredictable violence of humankind. Climate disaster infiltrates every action. I am inspired by creatures and places that have returned from near extinction, such as the sandhill cranes in southern New Mexico and the egrets and steelhead trout in southern California. These paintings capture once threatened creatures that now thrive, and the protected lands where they live. To study something by painting it is to honor it. This recent body of work honors the art of survival.
"Moonrise: Santa Monica Mountains" 78" x 52". acrylic on wood panel. Private collection
"Standing Cranes, Bosque Dela Apache", 16" x 22", mixed media on wood
"Fire Kasina", 6" x 6", mixed media on scrapwood
"A Trout Considers the Cosmos" 20" x 16", mixed media on wood
"Feeding SandhillCrane: Bosque Del Apache" 11" x 9" mixed media on panel
"Egret in the Rain" 20" x 16" , mixed media on wood
"Flying Sandhill Crane: Bosque Del Apache", 16" x 16".mixed media on wood
"Sandhill Cranes in Field", 6" x 6", mixed media on scrapwood
"Moonrise Study" 42" x 36", acrylic on weedcloth
"Sandhill Cranes at Dawn: Bosque Del Apache" 16" x 24". mixed media on wood
"Standing Cranes in Fog: Bosque Del Apache", 6" x 6", mixed media on scrapwood
"Rye Grass and Fog: Santa Monica Mountains" 16" x 16".mixed medai on wood
"City Lights: Santa Monica Mountains" 20" x16" mixed media on wood
"Diving Osprey: Underwater", 6" x 6" .mixed media on scrapwood
"Gray Fox: Santa Monica Mountains" 16" x 16" , mixed media on wood
"Diving Osprey" 20" x 16", mixed media on wood
"Wendy's Waterliles" 8" x 8", mixed media on wood
"Blue Heron", 16" x 20", mixed media on wood
"Out of the Darkness." 48" x 66", acrylic on panel
"Egret Over Surf", 11" x 14", mixed media on panel
2020 - 2022 Pandemic Still Lives
In 2020, while recovering from Covid-19, Sarah started a series of works on paper to create a journal of “still lives” to honor those lost to the virus. These select pieces memorialize objects that represent the small everyday moments of beauty as we acknowledge the numbers of those taken by the virus, and celebrate the survivors.
2007 Belmont Beach, San Diego, Public Art: “Pixelated Summer”
Commissioned by the City of San Diego, Pixelated Summer includes two photographic tile panels, “Acqua and Fuoco” (Water and Fire) that flank the sides of the Belmont Beach public restroom adjacent to the historic rollercoaster and “The Plunge” public pool. Completed in 2007 in collaboration with Angelo and Zoe Camporaso..
Selected Interactive Exhibitions
Inspired by Fluxus art, Sarah became interested in interactive, experiential art, creating pieces that invite public participation. Below are images from the interactive performative works Vital Hypocrisies, The Collective’s Touch, and Sea of Free Green Shoes commissioned by Barnsdall Art Park,
As one of the founding members of The Collective, she participated in numerous community oriented art projects, Handmade Histories a spoken word and installation piece in collaboration with Polly Chu was performed and exhibited on both coasts. The spoken word piece Stones was selected for performance at the 1999 National Women’s Caucus for Art. in 1996, Sarah Lejeune became a fellow of The Virginia Center for the Arts in painting. Selected images of this work are below.
