Alison Saar creates artworks that frequently transform found objects to reflect themes of cultural and social identity, history, and religion. Saar is skilled in numerous artistic mediums, including metal sculpture, wood, fresco, woodblock print, and works using found objects.

A native and resident of Los Angeles, Saar studied studio art and art history at Scripps College in Claremont, California, and she earned her MFA from the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1983, Saar became an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, incorporating found objects from the city environment.

Saar’s style encompasses a multitude of personal, artistic, and cultural references that reflect the plurality of her own experiences. Her sculptures, installations, and prints incorporate found objects including rough-hewn wood, old tin ceiling panels, nails, shards of pottery, glass, and urban detritus. The resulting figures and objects become powerful totems exploring issues of gender, race, heritage, and history. Saar’s art is included in museums and private collections across the U.S.

She is the daughter of acclaimed collagist and assemblage artist Betye Saar, and Richard Saar, a painter and art conservator.

Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,  Walker Institute in Minneapolis, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the High Museum in Atlanta.

Saar’s appearance is made possible by the support of the Art Studio program, Department of Art and Art History and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.