Sarah Boyts Yoder

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Sarah Boyts Yoder is a painter based in Charlottesville, VA. She
received an MFA in painting from James Madison University in 2006.
Her work has been featured in numerous publications, exhibitions,
and corporate and private collections throughout the United States
and abroad, including the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art.

Sarah has been the recipient of a professional fellowship in painting
from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and has been a fellow multiple
times at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and 100W Corsicana
in Corsicana, TX.

Born 1980 Fort Worth, Texas
Lives and works in Charlottesville, VA

Education
2006
MFA, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

2003
BFA, Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, NM

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021
EMBLEM, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
Meantime, Jagg Gallery, Key West, FL

2019
Look At All There Is To Have, Saint Cloche, Sydney, Australia
FLEET, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2018
Never No Horizons, Beverly Street Studio School, Staunton, VA
bathymetry, Sawhill Memorial Gallery, JMU, Harrisonburg, VA
Trove, Charleston Music Hall, Charleston, SC

2017
Forget Your Perfect Offering, Studio IX, Charlottesville, VA
Overture, two person exhibition with S. Nicole Lane, Pleat Gallery

2015
Elbows On The Table, Welcome Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
A Single Jumpy Heart, The Garage, Charlottesville, VA
Light In June, Blenheim Vineyards, Charlottesville, VA

2014
Insist/Resist, Amuse Restaurant at VMFA, Richmond, VA
Taste & Repeat, Dooby’s, Baltimore, MD
Never Once, Twice, Lemonade Stand Gallery, Key West, FL
Summer Colors, Pigment, Charlottesville, VA

2013
Nothing Passes, This Too Shall Pass, Jericho Gallery, Chas, SC
Guides & Stars, Pigment Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, Mitchell Gallery, Chas, SC

2012
Merge/Emerge, The Real Estate Studio, Charleston, SC

2011
Nice Work, Jericho Gallery, Charleston, SC
Anchors, Costa + Williams, Charleston, SC
Reunion, Flagship Gallery, Charleston, SC
FRESH, Stems, Charleston, SC

2008
Reveal/Recover, Spark Gallery & Studios, Charleston, SC
Come Down/Open Up, Clementine’s, Harrisonburg, VA

2007
Poverty Creek: Trail Series, Art at Gillies, Blacksburg, VA
New Work, The Gallery at Mish Mish, Blacksburg, VA
New Works on Paper, Bollos Gallery, Blacksburg, VA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022
Group Exhibition, Blue Print Gallery, Dallas, TX

2021
In Her World, Voltz Clarke Gallery, New York, NY

2020
The Stars We Steer By, Curating Contemporary
Looking Out, Stay Home Gallery, (virtual)
Glean, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2019
Ship of Fellows, Rawls Museum, Courtland, VA

2018
Hot Hot Hot, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
Summertime, Les Yeux du Monde Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Mother, Mother, Studio IX, Charlottesville, VA
Fool, Juice Box Gallery, Denver Colorado

2017
At Home, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
CURRENT ART FAIR, Richmond, VA
New Waves 2017, VA Museum of Contemporary Art, VA Beach
Summer Perspectives, LYDM Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Drawn to Charlottesville, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

2016
You, Me, We, (Collaborative Exhibition with Ryan Trott and Ken Horne), The Garage, Charlottesville, VA
Adherence, Tenth Street Warehouse, Charlottesville, VA
rending: Contemporary Art Now, juried by Elizabeth Garvey with The Women’s Caucus for Art, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA

2015
Just Plane Rotten, Mist Gallery, Richmond, VA
Dig Create, Show & Tell Art & Design, Charleston, SC

2014
You Are Surrounded, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
AWE & AWE, The Ark at Awendaw, Charleston, SC
Primary Urges, Honfleur Gallery, Washington, DC

2013
Material Matters, 10 Storehouse Row, Charleston, SC

2012
For Dear Life, Michael Mitchell Gallery, Charleston, SC
Static in the Snow, Michael Mitchell Gallery, Charleston, SC

2011
Contemporaries, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
Re-Nude, Eye Level Art, Charleston, SC

2010
Riverviews Juried Show, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA
The Still Sun, Tivoli Studios, Charleston, SC
Juxtaposition, WALK Gallery, Charleston, SC
Re-Nude: Celebrate the Body, Charleston, SC

2009
Paper Works, Gallery RFD, Swainsboro, GA
Spoleto Salon, Galliard Auditorium, Charleston, SC

2007
3rd Coast National, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
On and About the Edges, The Armory Gallery, Blacksburg, VA
Along the Path, The Gallery, Radford, VA
Really Big Shoe Show, Riverviews Art Center, Lynchburg, VA

2006
Surface Tension, Riverviews Art Center, Lynchburg, VA
The Familiars, Sawhill Gallery, JMU, Harrisonburg, VA

Residencies and Fellowships

2022
Blue Apple Beach, Artist in Residence, Cartagena, Colombia, 2022

2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Residency at 100 W Corsicana, Corsicana, TX

2014
Professional Fellowship, VMFA, Richmond, VA

2014
Residency, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA

2013
Residency, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA

Awards and Honors

2017
Semifinalist, Trawick Art Prize

2005
VA Invitational Graduate Forum, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA

Select Collections

The Colony Hotel, West Palm Beach, FL
Stitch Design Company Partners, Charleston, SC
Emmeline Hotel, Charleston, SC
Boars Head Resort, Charlottesville, VA
Common House, Charlottesville, VA
Baker Motor Company, Charleston, SC
Capitol One, Richmond, VA
FS2, Charleston, SC
Tenth Street Warehouse, Charlottesville, VA

Publications

Wild Lands, Group Exhibition in Print, Curated by Gina Tuzzi
Cover Art, ‘Gente Encerrada’ by Pablo Padilla, Hueders Libros
Friend of the Artist, Issue 5
Fresh Paint Magazine, International Issue 10
Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 13

In a world that all too often insists on inevitability and separateness, Boyts Yoder’s paintings are playful refusals of these false assurances and fixedness. Using a visual lexicon of symbols she has generated over time, each work articulates how space constantly extends and collapses all around us and how joyfully form can evade our need for categorization.

What emerges are welcoming and engaging spaces for imaginative play, a celebratory take on color and material, and an invitation to open up. In this context, Boyts Yoder sees the paintings as hopeful, optimistic acts, and the mode of abstraction as a generous state of being.