“I was in second grade at Mountain School in the early 1950’s when I visited the Santa Fe studio of Pansy Stockton. She was so impressive; her style was different than anyone I knew and better than most, and her studio was a feast for the eyes. For example, rather than pile her yarns together, she grouped them by colors in containers, which was as visually interesting as the unusual thought behind her orderly plan. Purples with greens and turquoise, hot pink with scarlet and coral, and whites with whatever was left. I remember telling Miss. Stockton that when I grew up I wanted to be just like her. She gave me incredible advice which I have shared with hundreds of other children throughout my life: The secret to making my childhood dreams materialize was simply to remember them! So many grown-ups don’t. Pansy Stockton also suggested that I keep a diary, which I do to this day.”
Sara Eyestone has painted all her life. She is known for her elegant floral oil paintings and sensitive family portraits created with unusual combinations of glorious colors. For years she has painted exclusively on commission for private collectors the world over. Prior to that, the artist had fifty one-woman exhibitions including a national tour and a retrospective at The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. Her oil paintings are published on international art posters and Caspari note cards, and these reproductions are featured in over 500 museum shops from South Africa to Japan. Her signature lines of other products include calendars with reproductions of her paintings and fabrics.
Sara Eyestone was born artistic and had a privileged childhood in Los Alamos, New Mexico as the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Shreffler. She lived there in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s when it was truly the Atomic City. In her twenties she had four children, moved to the Jersey Shore, an hour by train from New York City, and launched her painting career with weekly trips to New York. She was discovered by the art publishing industry. The global exposure of reproductions of her originals brought significant opportunities her way with licensing companies for signature lines of products, galleries, magazines, and television appearances.
Twenty-five years later Sara Eyestone and her husband sold their home, closed her Jersey Shore studio, packed a suitcase of art supplies and a smaller suitcase of warm-weather clothing, and left the East Coast for an uncharted journey that took them to places they had only dreamed about. They spent winters in Hawaii; traveled to Holland when the tulips bloomed or to Tuscany if it was raining in Paris and Giverny. The two of them spent time in Mexico en route to Santa Fe every summer, with the artist painting on location everywhere they went. “We were never more liberated!” said the artist with a hardy laugh. Their adventure lasted for six and a half years before they discovered San Antonio and set down roots for the next decade in an urban yet secluded gallery/residence downtown on the spectacular River Walk.
Today the artist is 73 years old. She continues to paint on commission for private collectors but has begun another new passage in her life, living with her husband in a Santa Fe loft near the Opera. She has taken the coveted position as Art Curator at the historic La Posada Hotel which is famous for being the first public place in New Mexico to feature art for sale. Georgia O’Keeffe showed and sold her work there until 1957. Today her own work is installed with other world-class, living, American artists such as Jill Pankey, Don Ward, Betty Nance Smith, Liz Maness and Kathleen Frank.
She also teaches painting and memoir writing at the O’Keeffe Museum and for no charge leads a large group of Santa Fe writers who are putting their personal stories on paper every Thursday morning at La Posada. Sara Eyestone presents a business workshop for artists all over the country. Soon her book titled A Creative Approach to Marketing Art will soon be available in print. Her autobiography and a documentary about her life and work are also underway. Mayor Javier Gonzales recently appointed Sara Eyestone to Santa Fe’s prestigious Art Commission.
The Artist is also at work on what she is calling her last show which will be held in 2020 at La Posada over a three month period. The seven thousand collectors on the Sara Eyestone’s private mailing list will be invited to attend.
For more information about Sara Eyestone contact her at La Posada. 505-577-4991 or email her at saraeyestone@yahoo.com. See pictures of her oil paintings, posters, and prints and read about her career as an American artist on her website at www.saraeystone.com.
