Art & Sustainability: Sarah Agnone

Sarah Agnone is a senior in the Stamp School of Art & Design. Her passions and talents span many topics, and she is currently working on projects focused on the interconnections of art and sustainability. She is inspired by the people around her– “The things that people have contributed or the ideas that change the world, I want to be a part of that. It’s an exciting and demanding time to be a designer; there’s so many solutions the world needs but it also seems that there’s so much potential around me.”

Sarah grew up and Phoenix, and eventually found her way to becoming an artist–her parents are doctors, so she says, “I never thought I’d go to art school… it didn’t occur to me.” However, she got her creative start in high school, painting and making jewelry to sell. Now, Sarah is proud of being a designer, and works with graphic, product, and systems design, and hopes to bring more meaning to people’s relationships to the physical objects around them. For her thesis project, Sarah is exploring fashion and creating a sustainable business model. “I’m trying to apply the idea of quality vs. quantity to my life, whether it’s in relationships, the way I buy things, etc.”

One of Sarah’s favorite projects she is working on is a series of sculptural coasters. “They’re sculptural pieces that function as coasters. I wanted to take an obsolete object and change perceptions of something that traditionally has just one use. Everyday things are exciting.” Her sculptural coasters are comprised of two shapes–circles and triangles, and are laser-cut pieces of light-emitting acrylic. Sarah says, “I prototyped for a long time to see which shapes and colors made the most consistently beautiful combinations.”

After graduation, Sarah wants to work in design consulting at a sustainable product design/industrial design firm, or enroll in a graduate program. She concludes that, “My goal is to keep learning and following my intuition and create projects that make a difference.”