Local Artist Spotlight: Sarah Nassif, Artist in Resident at the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Sarah creating a felted vagus nerve

Bringing People, Plants and Place together through interactive art works

Sarah Nassif is Artist in Residence at Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO), where she developed her Weaving Water Workshops. Keep reading to learn about this workshop where you can share personal connections to textile traditions, bodies of water and the Mississippi River. That’s just one of the programs that Nassif has created in the local area. We talked to Sarah about her amazing nature-based projects in the Twin Cities and how you can participate.

Q:  You're the Artist in Residence at Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. How did this marvelous appointment come about?

A:  Just months before the pandemic, I was awarded an MRAC Next Step grant and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. The funding was meant to allow me to continue the work I had started in 2018 with Weaving Water, which was funded by a 2017 Artist Initiative Grant by presenting it through MWMO. The plan was for me to present my first solo show in the beautiful MWMO Stormwater Park and Learning Center gallery space as well as provide some public programming for MWMO. My show plan was to create enormous weavings depicting three watersheds and design an immersive fiber art installation.

Of course, everything froze in March 2020– and then life took us all through some very hard times – fires around the world, the murder of George Floyd and the upheaval that followed, the isolation and fear brought on by the pandemic, etc.

Abby Moore, Outreach Principal at the MWMO, and I stayed in conversation through 2020-2021, having no idea when or how my project could (or should) resume.

Abby’s challenge when the MWMO reopened its offices (after more than a year) in fall 2021 was how on earth to move forward with the work of connecting the public to what this governmental body accomplishes day in and day out for our watershed, a world most people barely know. She had always engaged artists to present art shows each year with some public programming to complement them, but the MWMO building hours were now very limited, people were still scared of gathering, and circumstances were shifting due to COVID conditions and a very cold winter that set in in January 2022.

I have long admired the work of Christine Baumler as Artist-in-Residence at Capitol Region Watershed District, so I suggested we create a similar role for me as a way for me to collaborate with Abby to meet both her goals and mine as we rode the waves of changing circumstances starting in October 2021.

Both Abby and I wanted to create opportunities for people to come together safely, connect with the Mississippi River, and find creativity and relaxation in community to help offset the extreme stress of daily life at the time.

The first Weaving Water Workshop at MWMO was distanced/masked and outdoors in late October, but people loved the chance to gather by the river, get creative playing with indigo and fiber, and just be together again. We shared about our personal lineages of creativity and connection to water to kick off a couple hours of making. It felt like such a gift and a balm at that time, under the huge cottonwood trees with the sparkling river and smiling people. We planned monthly workshops after that, and I brought in fellow artists to expand on the theme of creativity and connection to water. So that was it, I became the first Artist in Residence for the MWMO, and I continue in this role to bring arts-engaged outreach programming to all corners of the watershed.

Q:  That’s quite a story – thank you for persevering with your vision. Your website notes that your passion is bringing people, plants and place together to create interactive art works. Can you tell us how you first became aware of your interest in unexpected collaborative experiences?  

A:  I like to say that my art practice is about the intersections of people, plants and place. When I moved to Minnesota in 2000, I had no history here, no family roots, and despite my B.S. in Botany from University of Washington, all the plants were brand new to me. My first jobs here were in marketing data analysis, far removed from my love of art and nature. I was living here, but didn’t feel connected to the place for the first five years. Unhappy with work, I left the corporate world in 2005 with room to return to my creativity at long last. Getting to know the plants was my first artistic ambition – I documented trees and plants on my hikes and created textile designs from them that I screen printed in my home studio.

In 2005 I launched Rectangle Designs: Botanically Inspired Fashion. This was a line of apparel and accessories featuring botanical screen prints I created from my field photography of plants. Each design connected the buyer to an actual plant and the place it grew. I had beautiful hangtags and a website where shoppers could learn more about each plant. I was trying to inspire people about nature in the unexpected location of a boutique where they were just shopping for clothes or gifts. In 2012 I was invited to host a solo trunk show at the Walker Art Center’s Gift Shop, and I loved talking to all the people who bought my designs.

But I decided to close the business when we moved to a new house that required me to pack up my screen printing studio indefinitely, and I just did teaching artist residencies for a couple years. In 2014, I got my first artist grant through Springboard for the Arts’ Irrigate program to create The Other Green Line, which was also my accidental introduction to “social practice” art. The Other Green Line was a free field guide distributed alongside other free printed materials at convenience store check outs and local businesses up and down the new Green Line light rail. This project was the real catalyst for me realizing the power of “unexpected creative (and collaborative) experiences.” It also led me to meet other local artists working in similar ways.

The Other Green Line revealed the natural history of the landscapes between Minneapolis and St. Paul that were obscured by urban development. It invited people to participate as field naturalists observing the world around them with curiosity and sharing their observations with other people. They could follow a self-guided foray route and draw on pages in the booklet. I offered guided forays for free. An article in Streets.MN was the ultimate validation to me that somehow, I was on the right track creatively.

Q:  Please tell us more about the Weaving Water Workshop at MWMO. How may we participate?  

A:  The Weaving Water Workshop was created in 2018 and is an ongoing project - an umbrella title for the collaborative work I do with a variety of organizations including (but not limited to) MWMO. The project can take the form of an art show installation, a public festival, or a privately held workshop for a smaller audience.

Above and below - some of Sarah's workshop participants, clearly enjoying themselves.

I collaborate with select partners to design Weaving Water Workshops for organizations and communities. This summer, the project will travel south along the river to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona in May and north to the Watermark Art Festival in Bemidji in July. Contact me here to inquire about commissioning a Weaving Water Workshop for your group. 

Subscribe to the MWMO newsletter to learn about public Weaving Water Workshops across the urban watershed. And listen to an in-depth interview of Sarah on the MWMO's new podcast River of Ideas. Please follow me on Instagram @sarahjnassif.

Q:  Another of your creations is the Trees of Prospect Park (TOPP). Can you tell our readers about the program?  Will you possibly design other tree or plant walks in our neighborhoods?

A:  TOPP was a pandemic project designed to help people de-stress by connecting to nature and to each other in the safety of the outdoors and fresh air. I designed a 26-tree walk that anyone can follow on Google Maps using the link is on my website. I led free tree walks along the river banks south of the Franklin Bridge in my neighborhood. My friend was just starting Signature Arts in a former grocery building, and there was space where I could host drawing sessions safely – with masks, distanced and with an air purifier! I provided walnut ink I made from a neighborhood tree’s windfall of walnuts, paper, and my extensive collection of pressed leaves, cones, acorns and other tree treasures. I coached individuals and family groups from 10 feet away to trace the leaves and draw without self-judgment while we chatted about our tree affinities. After a winter of being isolated in our homes, this was a fun way to get out in the world! 

I am developing a plant walk for the Walker Art Center in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden – to be released this Spring/Summer!

I also have a 9-week art residency that I teach at older adult communities. We gather weekly to explore the trees growing around the residences, and the students create and illustrate a custom field guide of these trees. The course is called Seeing the Forest and the Trees. It’s so fun!

Q:  So many wonderful projects! How may we follow your news?

A:  Please do follow my Instagram @sarahjnassif or subscribe to my newsletter. My website sarahnassif.com – check out my news and projects there.