Sarah Heyward is an artist and educator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she earned a BA in French and a BFA in Painting & Drawing from Sonoma State University. She later completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing at Tyler School of Art and Architecture with Temple University in Philadelphia. Her early studies abroad in France informed a lasting interest in visual language, translation, and meaning-making across disciplines.
Her practice spans drawing, painting, sculpture, and fibers, with past work exploring domestic space, memory, and familial structures. Influenced by printmaking processes such as photo plate lithography and materials like Mylar and Duralar, her drawings often investigate surface, transparency, and layered image-making. Recent work turns toward fiber-based practices, including apprenticeship in weaving and textile traditions, as a way to investigate generational knowledge and histories of women’s labor. Inspired in part by artists such as Paul Klee, she incorporates text and poetic notation into her drawings, reflecting on personal experience, memory, and everyday observations. Through this evolving body of work, Heyward examines how knowledge, skills, and cultural memory are passed down, reinterpreted, and sustained across generations.
Since 2020, Heyward has served as Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, where she teaches foundations curriculum and is the galleries coordinator. Her work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and institutions. She has presented solo exhibitions such as Reimagining Space (2019) at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia with an upcoming solo exhibition, Generations of Women’s Wisdom, anticipated in 2027. In 2018, she received the Tactile Urbanism Grant through the Pennsylvania Humanities Council where she completed Plastic Bag Community Mural, a large-scale public installation on the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge over I-95 in Chester, Pennsylvania.
(Abbreviated CV below)
Education
2017
MFA, Painting & Drawing, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2015
BFA cum laude, Painting & Drawing & BA cum laude, French, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA
2011-12
Universities of Paris, Mission Interuniversitaire de Coordination des Echanges Franco-Americains (MICEFA), California State University International Programs (CSU IP), Universite Paris 8 Saint-Denis-Vincennes, Paris, FR
Selected Exhibitions
Solo & Two-Person
2026 Two-Person Exhibition with Stephanie Lerma, Little Loft, Santa Fe, NM
2019 Reimagining Space, The American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Plastic Bag Community Mural, Chester Made, Walnut St. Bridge over I-95, Chester, PA
2017 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Show, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
Group Shows
2026 Small Works, Harper College, Palatine, IL
2025 Year of the Arts in Education, Masley Gallery, The University of New Mexico Art Education Department, Albuquerque, NM
2025 Expressions of Education, 3017 Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2023 I Really Like That! Dona Nelson’s Collection, Stella Elkins Gallery, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
2019 8th Annual Invitational Exhibition, 40th Street Art Space, Philadelphia, PA
2018 The Edge of Precarity, Little Berlin, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Best of the Worst, Practice Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 In Black and White, Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL
2018 Drawn to Print, (SCENE) Metrospace, Michigan State University, MI
2018 Works on Paper, The Brand Library, Glendale, CA
2017 10x10x10, Tieton Arts and Humanities, Tieton, WA
2017 50/50 Show, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
2017 Not Here Not Home, Temple Contemporary, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Vision Margin, The Glass Factory, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Ocotillo, Stella Elkins Gallery, Tyler School of Art & Architecture
2016 The Conditions of Place, The Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Inspired Lines, Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL
2016 Tiny Biennale, Temple Rome Gallery of Art, Rome, ITA
2016 Still Life; Past, Present, Future, UBE Art Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2015 Contemporary Drawing, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA
2015 Ley Lines; Connecting Media, Process, Imagery, and Concept Across Contemporary Drawing, Jackson State University, Jacksonville, AL
2015 BFA Exhibition, Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, CA
2015 Freaks and the Human Ideal, University of Hilo Art Gallery, Hilo, HI
2015 Palates to Palettes, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
2015 Ladies Night, Griffin Map and Design, Petaluma, CA
2015 Drawing Discourse, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC
2014 Decision Driven, Jean and Charles Schulz Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA
2013 Impulse, Art Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA
2013 Cut & Paste, Paolo Mejia Art Gallery and Design Studio, San Francisco, CA
Collections
Widener University, Kapelski Learning Center, Chester PA
Dona Nelson, private collection of student work, Philadelphia, PA
Teaching Experience
2020 — current
Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Fine Arts, Film & Digital Media Division, The University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus, Los Lunas, NM
2020 — current
Gallery Coordinator, The University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus, Los Lunas, NM
2018-20
Adjunct Instructor, Widener University, Chester, PA
2018-19
Adjunct Instructor, Delaware County Community College, Media, PA
2018
Adjunct Instructor, The Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Lancaster, PA
2017-20
Adjunct Instructor, Foundations Department, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Teacher of Record, Painting & Drawing Department, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Artist/Guest Lectures
2026
Visiting Artist, Design Thinking & Methodologies, The University of Reno Nevada, Reno, NV
2020
Visiting Artist, Cultivating Creativity During Crisis, Graduate Painting & Drawing, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
2019
Visiting Artist, Advanced Drawing, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
2012-15
Guest Lecturer, biannual, Parenting High-Risk Children in Foster Care, Heritage Program, Los Medanos Community College, Antioch, CA, and Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
Bibliography
Print Media
Small Works, exh. cat., Harper College Art & Design, 2026.
Dona Nelson, ed., I Really Like That! Exhibition announcement with photograph, Stella Elkins Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. June 21, 2023.
Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro, eds., Womanhouse, exh. cat., Wood and Jones, 1972; repr., Through The Flower, 2022, 31.
Danielle Degon Rhodes, ed., The Edge of Precarity: art-work, productivity, & public funding, Published by the author, 2018.
In Black and White: Art Meets Writing, exh. cat., Springfield Art Association Collective, 2018, 24-5.
Drawn to Print, exh. cat., (SCENE) Metrospace at Michigan State University, 2018, 39-40.
Works on Paper, exh. cat., Brand Library and Art Center, 2018.
Gerald Silk, Erin Pauwels, Diana Iturralde, et al., eds. Vision Margin, Ulyses 2017, 68-7, 118.
Zoe Berg, ed., Press Release Everything Must Go, Published by the author, 2017.
10x10x10 Tieton, exh. cat., Tieton Arts & Humanities and Marquand Editions, 2017, 1, 74.
Steven T. Zevitas, ed., Studio Visit, vol. 35, The Open Studios Press, 2016, 85.
Tammi Beldue, ed., Drawing Discourse, 6th annual exhibition of contemporary drawing, exh. cat., Published by the author, 2015, 56-7.
Laura Vasselle, ed., 2015 Williams Prize in Drawing for Emerging Artists Winners’ Catalogue, exh. cat., McWilliams Francisco Press, 2016, 50-1.
Online Publications
“UNM-Valencia Team Presents Innovative Teaching Partnership Model at International Conference,” UNM Newsroom, April 19, 2026.
Rita Garcia, “UNM-Valencia Pedagogical Partnership Program Presented at the World Social Science Conference,” UNM-Valencia Campus News, April 3, 2026.
“I Really Like That! Dona Nelson’s Collection of Tyler Artists,” Events, Exhibition Announcement, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, October 25, 2023.
Judy Chicago, “Chicago Gazette #9,” Chicago Gazette, June 17, 2022.
Nancy Zastudil, “Artist Paula Castillo Returns to Her Rural Roots,” Hyperallergic, April 12, 2022.
“Artist Paula Castillo Returns to Her Rural Roots,” News, Kouri & Corrao Gallery, April 2022.
Jessica, “New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force (NMBTF) at the Forefront of Harnessing the Power of Art,” Our Milky Way; Healthy Children Project Center for Breastfeeding (blog). July 17, 2022.
“On the Edge of Precarity,” Critical Theory Discourse, Da Vinci Art Alliance, February 10, 2021.
“Tactical Urbanism Relaunch; Thank You for Light Up The Night on Walnut Street Bridge,” Chester Made, April 29, 2019. https://chestermade.org/tactical-urbanism-relaunch/
Stefan Roots, “Chester’s Light Up the Night – Light Up the Bridge,” Chester Matters (blog). April 19, 2019.
Mark Hostutler, “Motorists Wowed by Unique Art Installation on Bridge in Chester,” DELCO Today, January 11, 2019.
Pete Bannan, “Plastic Bag Mural Spans I-95 Bridge in Chester,” Delaware County Daily Times, January 2, 2019.
Morgan Nitz, “Young Artists on the Edge of Precarity at Little Berlin,” The Art Blog (blog). December 20, 2018.
“Community Art: Plastic Bag Mural Aims to Bridge Widener and Its Neighbors,” Widener University Newsroom, December 18, 2018.
“Drawn to Print,” (SCENE) MetroSpace, Michigan State University, July 1, 2018.