SARAH NOEBELS

“The themes and ideas I use are fragments of dreams, myths and experiences of past lives. The shrine pieces link a personality trait, idea or human condition to the physical artwork. I believe that art should be a tactile part of our lives giving us beauty and pleasure each time we use the piece.”

Arkansas potter Sarah Noebels is a native of Arizona but has made Arkansas her home since 1961. She currently resides in Paris, Arkansas. Her most recent work concerns a lot of the daily chores in her present life – feeding her cats, gardening, playing with her young son. These are her inspirations these days.

Most of her pieces in recent years have been functional. Noebels has been a potter for fourteen years. She obtained her B.A. degree from Arkansas Tech University in oil painting and received additional training at the University of Missouri at Columbia and Southwest Missouri State in Springfield. Her love of creating pottery led to her current position as instructor at the Booneville Human Development Center.

Noebels work includes Raku pottery with whimsical images in addition to vases, platters and bowls that may include hand built figurines perched on the edge of the pieces. Her shrines and freestanding figurines are bold in image and form. Noebels’ great sense of humor and human nature are captured in her work.

Noebels is a painter at heart, but a potter who paints with a majolica glaze using bright colors and images on her functional and sculptural work. In essence, her pottery work is her canvas.