{{Short description|American mixed-media artist (born 1944)}} {{For|those of a similar name|Sarah Bates (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Sara Bates | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = California State University (B.A.)<br>University of California (M.F.A.) | occupation = Mixed-media artist | movement = | spouse = | awards = | patrons = | imagesize = | field = Mixed media | training = | works = }}
'''Sara Bates''' (born 1944) is an American mixed-media artist and member of the Cherokee Nation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Sara Bates |url=https://kiosk.sfartscommission.org/artist-maker/info/1944?sort=3 |access-date=December 20, 2023 |website= |publisher=San Francisco Arts Commission}}</ref>
==Biography== Sara Bates was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1944.<ref name=perdue>{{cite web|last1=Complo|first1=Jennifer|title=Biography: Sara Bates|url=https://www.cla.purdue.edu/waaw/Ressler/artists/batesbio.html|publisher=Purdue University|accessdate=April 20, 2018|date=1997}}</ref> In 1987, she graduated from California State University, Bakersfield, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and Women's Studies. In 1989, she graduated from the University of California (Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and Painting/Intermedia).<ref>Farris 1999, p. 8.</ref><ref name="Rushing 2013, p. xiii">Rushing 2013, p. xiii.</ref>
From 1990 to 1995, she served as the curator for American Indian Contemporary Arts (AICA) organization located in Piedmont, California. In 1997, Bates served as an instructor at San Francisco State University, and the following year, she taught at Florida State University as a visiting professor of art.<ref name=perdue/><ref name="Rushing 2013, p. xiii"/>
==Artistic style==
Bates is known for her mixed-media mandala and medicine wheel designs. She makes these out of various plant products, like pine cones, seeds, leaves, and flowers. According to Phoebe Farris, these designs "are usually laid on the floor in an 8- to 12-foot circular designs, with the center in an equal-arm cross, the arms oriented toward the four cardinal directions."<ref>Farris 1999, p. 12.</ref>
Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk and Robin Franklin Nigh, in their book ''Dimensions of Native America'' (1998), wrote that Bates's work was "uniquely contemporary in form and very traditional in spirit".<ref>Teilhet-Fisk and Nigh 1998, p. 132.</ref> Similarly, Susan C. Power has noted that Bates's contemporary style is based on "poignant elements of rich historical precedents",<ref>Power 2007, p. 246.</ref> and the San Francisco Arts Commission has also argued that the artist's work is notable for "envelop[ing] elements of their cultural background with European artistic traditions".<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|editor=Farris, Phoebe|year=1999|title=Women Artists of Color: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook to 20th Century Artists in the Americas|location=Westport, CT|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=0313303746|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/womenartistsofco00farr}} * {{cite book|last=Power|first=Susan C.|title=Art of the Cherokee: Prehistory to the Present|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=2007|isbn=9780820327662|location=Athens, GA}} * {{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-136-18003-3| editor= Rushing, W. Jackson| title = Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories| location = Abingdon-on-Thames, UK| date = 2013}} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Teilhet-Fisk|editor1-first=Jehanne|editor2-last=Nigh|editor2-first=Robin Franklin|title=Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone|publisher=Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts|year=1998|location=Tallahassee, FL}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Sara}} Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American artists Category:20th-century American women artists Category:20th-century Native American artists Category:20th-century Native American women artists Category:21st-century American artists Category:21st-century American women artists Category:21st-century Native American artists Category:21st-century Native American women artists Category:Artists from Oklahoma Category:California State University, Bakersfield, alumni Category:Cherokee Nation artists Category:Cherokee Nation women artists Category:People from Muskogee, Oklahoma Category:University of California alumni