Sarah Serio
Printmaker
Artist Statement
I am a printmaker creating in the traditional methods of hand carved, hand inked, & hand pulled works. My prints focus on the 27million people globally who are sold into slavery at this time. Most of the works are reduction block prints. The layers of ink build a foundation to tell the story of those suffering in the violent and demeaning world of human trafficking. Each print starts with researching various forms of human trafficking and reading harrowing stories from survivors. I then find individuals willing to help bring awareness to this issue by modeling for my prints. They take on the responsibly of the roles of victims, pimps, and johns. Each participant leaves with a new awareness of the scope of the issue. Each block is hand carved with a variety of small V and U shaped blades used to bring the image to life. Ink is rolled across the blocks surface with a brayer before paper is placed on top. I use only 100% cotton papers. Each print is pulled by being passed through a hand-cranked printing press.
Human trafficking does not discriminate, it just exploits. Taken are their freedom, self-worth, & identity. No age, gender, or race is excluded. Pimps give vulnerable girls money and drugs while singing sweet lies of love but in the end they want the girl’s dignity and self-respect. I find that often the visual imagery used to bring awareness to the sex slave industry is sanitized, showing a girl bearing a bar code and ropes around her wrist. My work strives to bring the harsh reality of this world to light. They are taken, not by choice, and forced to experience various stages of degradation and physical and psychological torture often by starvation, violence, and repeated rape. The ad campaigns also ignore an overlooked area of human trafficking, male victims, who are not only sold into forced labor but prostitution as well. The sex trafficking of men and boys is greatly hidden and unreported, reflecting cultural taboos in many parts of the world. They are silent victims to an already hidden crime. This is not a problem solely for some foreign nations but for our own American backyards. This global issue is easy to ignore; it’s a hidden world taking place online, in darkened backrooms, and out of sight street corners. I hope to bring to the viewer the true pain and suffering felt by those trapped in this terrible practice that we cannot allow to continue. As an artist, as a human being, I feel I must help bring awareness to this social injustice.
Biography
Sarah Serio is a native of Neosho, Mo. She is a Cum Laude graduate of Crowder College in Neosho where she received Associate of Arts degrees in both Journalism and Public Relations. She completed Bachelors degrees in Graphic Communication and Studio Art while earning a minor in Technical Theatre at Missouri Southern State University. Serio serves on the Neosho Arts Council Board of Directors, is a member of the Spiva Center for the Arts, Mid America Print Council, artCentral and served as President of Joplin Regional Artist Coalition and is a current member. She also holds lifetime membership to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Theatre Society and Alpha Chi National College Honor Society.
Exhibitions - Selected
(* Solo Exhibitions )
Click here for complete listing
2021 "Missouri Art Now" - Missouri Bicentennial Traveling Exhibition
2021 "The Game in Three Parts: Human Trafficking in America" - Bicknell Center for the Arts - Pittsburg State University - (Pittsburg, KS)*
2020 "The Game in Three Parts: Human Trafficking in America" - Solo Exhibition (Virtual)*
2019 "71st Annual North American Print Biennial" - Boston Printmakers - (Cambridge, MA)
2019 "Welcome To The Game: Human Trafficking In America" - The Bramlage and Wilcoxon Foundation Gallery - Joplin Public Library -(Joplin, MO)*
2018 "Welcome To The Game: Human Trafficking In America" - P.E.O. Foundation Art Gallery - Cottey College - (Nevada, MO)*
2018 "2018 Mid America Print Council Members’ Exhibition" - University of Wyoming - (Laramie, WY)
2018 "Stand Out Prints" - Highpoint Center for Printmaking - (Minneapolis, MN)
2018 "Third Coast National Biennial" - K Space Contemporary - (Corpus Christi, TX)
2018 "The Printed Image 7" - Alice C. Sabatini Art Gallery - (Topeka, KS)
2018 "Rewriting the Master Narrative: National Juried Printmaking Show" - Arts + Literature Laboratory - (Madison, WI)
2018 "America, Now" - Providence Art Club - (Providence, RI)
2018 “Art From The Heartland” - Indianapolis Art Center - (Indianapolis, IN)
2018 "70th Annual North American Print Biennial" - Boston Printmakers - (Cambridge, MA)
2018 "Americas 2018: Paperworks" - Walter Piehl Jr. Gallery - (Minot, ND)
2017 "Ninth Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition and Exhibition" - Lore Degenstein Gallery - (Susquehanna University)
2017 "Real People 2017" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2017 "Wide Open 8" - Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Gallery - (Brooklyn, NY)
2017 "Artworks 4th Annual Print Exhibition" - Artworks Trenton - (Trenton, NJ)
2017 "imPressed: Destructive Beauty" - Art Gym - (Denver, CO)
2017 "30th Women's Works" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2017 "Art Now: Printmaking" - Ann Arbor Art Center - (Ann Arbor, MI)
2016 "MAPC Members Exhibition" - MidAmerica Print Council - (New Albany, IN)
2016 "Soapbox" - Foundry Arts Centre - (St. Charles, MO)
2016 "29th Women's Works" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2016 "Emerging Artists 2016" - Limner Gallery - (Hudson, NY)
2016 "The Contemporary Print" - PrintAustin - (Austin, TX)
2015 "Printmaking Now" - Imago Foundation for the Arts 10th Annual Juried Exhibition - (Warren, RI)
2015 "International Print Exchange 2015" Exhibition - Green Door Printmaking Studio - (Derby, England)
2015 "Crave" - Columbia City Gallery - (Seattle, WA)
2015 “Art by America – A National Review of Two-Dimensional Contemporary Art” - The Art House - (Chicago, IL)
2014 "B*tch Fest" - The Haggus Society - (Los Angles, CA)
2014 MidAmerica Print Council Juried Members Exhibition - (South Bend, IN)
2014 One Billion Rising National Juried Exhibition - (Winter Haven, FL)
2013 Real People 2013 - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2011 Mid America Print Council Members Juried Exhibition - (Chicago, IL)
2011 Prints U.S.A. 2011 National Competitive Exhibition - Springfield Art Museum (Springfield, MO)
2011 Third Annual National Drawing and Painting Exhibition - The Lore Degenstein Gallery - (Susquehanna, PA)
2011 Real People 2011 - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2011 River Market Regional Exhibition - Kansas City Artists Coalition - (Kansas City, MO)
2011 Synthesis: printSPIVA National Exhibition - Spiva Center for the Arts - (Joplin, MO)
2011 National Small Works Exhibition – National Association of Women Artists - (New York, NY)
2010 Black & White International Exhibition - Kentucky Art Speaks/K.A.S. Gallery (Louisville, KY)
2010 Visions of the Flint Hills: Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Art Exhibit & Sale - Buttonwood Gallery - (Kansas City, MO)
2010 This. Is. It. Artwork by Sarah Serio. - (Joplin, MO)*
2010 Kansas City Artist Collation Undergraduate College Student Exhibition - Kansas City Artist Collation - (Kansas City, MO)
2009 Visions of the Flint Hills: Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Art Exhibit & Sale - Buttonwood Gallery - (Kansas City, MO)
2008 Spiva Membership Show - Spiva Center for the Arts - (Joplin, MO)
2008 Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Crowder College - (Neosho, MO)
2007 Crowder College Student Exhibition - Crowder College - (Neosho, MO)
Awards
2019 Takach Merit Award - "Trapped In The Amber of This Moment" - 71st Annual North American Print Biennial
2018 Second Place - "The Lines on His Face Tell the Story of His Pain" - Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Professional Artist Division
2018 Awagami Paper Award - "The Lines on His Face Tell the Story of His Pain" - Americas 2018: Paperworks
2017 Third Prize - "Everything Is Never As It Seems" - 4th Annual Juried Print Exhibition - Artworks Trenton
2017 Third Place - "One More Transaction Going Down" - Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Professional Artist Division
2017 Honorable Mention for "Controlled And Exploited" - "Front and Center" - Maple UnCommon/JRAC
2016 Merit Award for Works on Paper for "Bound By Invisible Chains"
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2015 Third Place for "Innocence Died Screaming"
artCentral Membership Show
2015 Honorable Mention for "Bound By Invisible Chains"
"Spectrum: A JRAC Membership Exhibition
2014 Second Place for “The Reaping”
“The Harvest: A JRAC Membership Exhibition”
2013 Best of Show for The Subjection. The Despair. The Burden.
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2013 Excellence in Print for The Subjection. The Despair. The Burden.
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2013 "Service In Flight"
2nd Place Camp Crowder Carrier Pigeon Art Show.
2010 1st Place for Eternal (reduction print)
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Emerging Artist Division
2010 Excellence in Drawing for Male Figure Study No. 1
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Emerging Artist Division
2010 Merit Award for Forever (aquatint)
ARTtitude at the St. Charles Country Club
2009 1st Place for Modern Slave (drawing)
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Student Division
Organizations
2010 – Current Member of Joplin Regional Artist Coalition
2012 – 2013 JRAC Board Member
2013 – 2014 JRAC Vice President
2014 – 2016 JRAC President
2014 - Current Neosho Arts Council Board of Directors
2018 - Current NAC President
2016 - Current Neosho Arts Council Circle of Patrons
2010 – Current Member of the Mid America Print Council
2008 – Current Member of Spiva Center for the Arts
2014 - Current Member of artCentral
Publications
California Society of Printmakers Journal - "Welcome to the Game: Human Trafficking in America"
Permanent Collection
Printmaking Center of New Jersey (Branchburg, NJ)
Green Door Printmaking Studio (Derby, England)
Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
Eastern Oregon University (La Grande, OR)
Spiva Center for the Arts (Joplin, MO)
Private Collections
Professional Experience
Director – Thomas Hart Benton Art Competition and Exhibition (Neosho Arts Council)
Working within the Neosho Arts Council to host a regional art competition for fine art. The event was taken over by Neosho Arts Council in 2016 when
previous directors retired and the event was in danger of ending.
Printmaking Instructor - Spiva Center for the Arts and artCentral Carthage
Guest Lecture
Historic Eleutherian College Historic Site
George Washington Carver National Monument
Bicknell Center for the Arts
Grants
2017 Puffin Foundation
I am a printmaker creating in the traditional methods of hand carved, hand inked, & hand pulled works. My prints focus on the 27million people globally who are sold into slavery at this time. Most of the works are reduction block prints. The layers of ink build a foundation to tell the story of those suffering in the violent and demeaning world of human trafficking. Each print starts with researching various forms of human trafficking and reading harrowing stories from survivors. I then find individuals willing to help bring awareness to this issue by modeling for my prints. They take on the responsibly of the roles of victims, pimps, and johns. Each participant leaves with a new awareness of the scope of the issue. Each block is hand carved with a variety of small V and U shaped blades used to bring the image to life. Ink is rolled across the blocks surface with a brayer before paper is placed on top. I use only 100% cotton papers. Each print is pulled by being passed through a hand-cranked printing press.
Human trafficking does not discriminate, it just exploits. Taken are their freedom, self-worth, & identity. No age, gender, or race is excluded. Pimps give vulnerable girls money and drugs while singing sweet lies of love but in the end they want the girl’s dignity and self-respect. I find that often the visual imagery used to bring awareness to the sex slave industry is sanitized, showing a girl bearing a bar code and ropes around her wrist. My work strives to bring the harsh reality of this world to light. They are taken, not by choice, and forced to experience various stages of degradation and physical and psychological torture often by starvation, violence, and repeated rape. The ad campaigns also ignore an overlooked area of human trafficking, male victims, who are not only sold into forced labor but prostitution as well. The sex trafficking of men and boys is greatly hidden and unreported, reflecting cultural taboos in many parts of the world. They are silent victims to an already hidden crime. This is not a problem solely for some foreign nations but for our own American backyards. This global issue is easy to ignore; it’s a hidden world taking place online, in darkened backrooms, and out of sight street corners. I hope to bring to the viewer the true pain and suffering felt by those trapped in this terrible practice that we cannot allow to continue. As an artist, as a human being, I feel I must help bring awareness to this social injustice.
Biography
Sarah Serio is a native of Neosho, Mo. She is a Cum Laude graduate of Crowder College in Neosho where she received Associate of Arts degrees in both Journalism and Public Relations. She completed Bachelors degrees in Graphic Communication and Studio Art while earning a minor in Technical Theatre at Missouri Southern State University. Serio serves on the Neosho Arts Council Board of Directors, is a member of the Spiva Center for the Arts, Mid America Print Council, artCentral and served as President of Joplin Regional Artist Coalition and is a current member. She also holds lifetime membership to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Theatre Society and Alpha Chi National College Honor Society.
Exhibitions - Selected
(* Solo Exhibitions )
Click here for complete listing
2021 "Missouri Art Now" - Missouri Bicentennial Traveling Exhibition
2021 "The Game in Three Parts: Human Trafficking in America" - Bicknell Center for the Arts - Pittsburg State University - (Pittsburg, KS)*
2020 "The Game in Three Parts: Human Trafficking in America" - Solo Exhibition (Virtual)*
2019 "71st Annual North American Print Biennial" - Boston Printmakers - (Cambridge, MA)
2019 "Welcome To The Game: Human Trafficking In America" - The Bramlage and Wilcoxon Foundation Gallery - Joplin Public Library -(Joplin, MO)*
2018 "Welcome To The Game: Human Trafficking In America" - P.E.O. Foundation Art Gallery - Cottey College - (Nevada, MO)*
2018 "2018 Mid America Print Council Members’ Exhibition" - University of Wyoming - (Laramie, WY)
2018 "Stand Out Prints" - Highpoint Center for Printmaking - (Minneapolis, MN)
2018 "Third Coast National Biennial" - K Space Contemporary - (Corpus Christi, TX)
2018 "The Printed Image 7" - Alice C. Sabatini Art Gallery - (Topeka, KS)
2018 "Rewriting the Master Narrative: National Juried Printmaking Show" - Arts + Literature Laboratory - (Madison, WI)
2018 "America, Now" - Providence Art Club - (Providence, RI)
2018 “Art From The Heartland” - Indianapolis Art Center - (Indianapolis, IN)
2018 "70th Annual North American Print Biennial" - Boston Printmakers - (Cambridge, MA)
2018 "Americas 2018: Paperworks" - Walter Piehl Jr. Gallery - (Minot, ND)
2017 "Ninth Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition and Exhibition" - Lore Degenstein Gallery - (Susquehanna University)
2017 "Real People 2017" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2017 "Wide Open 8" - Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Gallery - (Brooklyn, NY)
2017 "Artworks 4th Annual Print Exhibition" - Artworks Trenton - (Trenton, NJ)
2017 "imPressed: Destructive Beauty" - Art Gym - (Denver, CO)
2017 "30th Women's Works" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2017 "Art Now: Printmaking" - Ann Arbor Art Center - (Ann Arbor, MI)
2016 "MAPC Members Exhibition" - MidAmerica Print Council - (New Albany, IN)
2016 "Soapbox" - Foundry Arts Centre - (St. Charles, MO)
2016 "29th Women's Works" - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2016 "Emerging Artists 2016" - Limner Gallery - (Hudson, NY)
2016 "The Contemporary Print" - PrintAustin - (Austin, TX)
2015 "Printmaking Now" - Imago Foundation for the Arts 10th Annual Juried Exhibition - (Warren, RI)
2015 "International Print Exchange 2015" Exhibition - Green Door Printmaking Studio - (Derby, England)
2015 "Crave" - Columbia City Gallery - (Seattle, WA)
2015 “Art by America – A National Review of Two-Dimensional Contemporary Art” - The Art House - (Chicago, IL)
2014 "B*tch Fest" - The Haggus Society - (Los Angles, CA)
2014 MidAmerica Print Council Juried Members Exhibition - (South Bend, IN)
2014 One Billion Rising National Juried Exhibition - (Winter Haven, FL)
2013 Real People 2013 - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2011 Mid America Print Council Members Juried Exhibition - (Chicago, IL)
2011 Prints U.S.A. 2011 National Competitive Exhibition - Springfield Art Museum (Springfield, MO)
2011 Third Annual National Drawing and Painting Exhibition - The Lore Degenstein Gallery - (Susquehanna, PA)
2011 Real People 2011 - Northwest Area Art Council - (Woodstock, IL)
2011 River Market Regional Exhibition - Kansas City Artists Coalition - (Kansas City, MO)
2011 Synthesis: printSPIVA National Exhibition - Spiva Center for the Arts - (Joplin, MO)
2011 National Small Works Exhibition – National Association of Women Artists - (New York, NY)
2010 Black & White International Exhibition - Kentucky Art Speaks/K.A.S. Gallery (Louisville, KY)
2010 Visions of the Flint Hills: Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Art Exhibit & Sale - Buttonwood Gallery - (Kansas City, MO)
2010 This. Is. It. Artwork by Sarah Serio. - (Joplin, MO)*
2010 Kansas City Artist Collation Undergraduate College Student Exhibition - Kansas City Artist Collation - (Kansas City, MO)
2009 Visions of the Flint Hills: Preserving the Tallgrass Prairie Art Exhibit & Sale - Buttonwood Gallery - (Kansas City, MO)
2008 Spiva Membership Show - Spiva Center for the Arts - (Joplin, MO)
2008 Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Crowder College - (Neosho, MO)
2007 Crowder College Student Exhibition - Crowder College - (Neosho, MO)
Awards
2019 Takach Merit Award - "Trapped In The Amber of This Moment" - 71st Annual North American Print Biennial
2018 Second Place - "The Lines on His Face Tell the Story of His Pain" - Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Professional Artist Division
2018 Awagami Paper Award - "The Lines on His Face Tell the Story of His Pain" - Americas 2018: Paperworks
2017 Third Prize - "Everything Is Never As It Seems" - 4th Annual Juried Print Exhibition - Artworks Trenton
2017 Third Place - "One More Transaction Going Down" - Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition - Professional Artist Division
2017 Honorable Mention for "Controlled And Exploited" - "Front and Center" - Maple UnCommon/JRAC
2016 Merit Award for Works on Paper for "Bound By Invisible Chains"
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2015 Third Place for "Innocence Died Screaming"
artCentral Membership Show
2015 Honorable Mention for "Bound By Invisible Chains"
"Spectrum: A JRAC Membership Exhibition
2014 Second Place for “The Reaping”
“The Harvest: A JRAC Membership Exhibition”
2013 Best of Show for The Subjection. The Despair. The Burden.
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2013 Excellence in Print for The Subjection. The Despair. The Burden.
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Professional Artist Division
2013 "Service In Flight"
2nd Place Camp Crowder Carrier Pigeon Art Show.
2010 1st Place for Eternal (reduction print)
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Emerging Artist Division
2010 Excellence in Drawing for Male Figure Study No. 1
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Emerging Artist Division
2010 Merit Award for Forever (aquatint)
ARTtitude at the St. Charles Country Club
2009 1st Place for Modern Slave (drawing)
Thomas Hart Benton Exhibition – Student Division
Organizations
2010 – Current Member of Joplin Regional Artist Coalition
2012 – 2013 JRAC Board Member
2013 – 2014 JRAC Vice President
2014 – 2016 JRAC President
2014 - Current Neosho Arts Council Board of Directors
2018 - Current NAC President
2016 - Current Neosho Arts Council Circle of Patrons
2010 – Current Member of the Mid America Print Council
2008 – Current Member of Spiva Center for the Arts
2014 - Current Member of artCentral
Publications
California Society of Printmakers Journal - "Welcome to the Game: Human Trafficking in America"
Permanent Collection
Printmaking Center of New Jersey (Branchburg, NJ)
Green Door Printmaking Studio (Derby, England)
Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
Eastern Oregon University (La Grande, OR)
Spiva Center for the Arts (Joplin, MO)
Private Collections
Professional Experience
Director – Thomas Hart Benton Art Competition and Exhibition (Neosho Arts Council)
Working within the Neosho Arts Council to host a regional art competition for fine art. The event was taken over by Neosho Arts Council in 2016 when
previous directors retired and the event was in danger of ending.
Printmaking Instructor - Spiva Center for the Arts and artCentral Carthage
Guest Lecture
Historic Eleutherian College Historic Site
George Washington Carver National Monument
Bicknell Center for the Arts
Grants
2017 Puffin Foundation