We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Amaro recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
My passion for writing and drawing inspired me to work on the Illustration field. This passion led me into publishing my first poetry book for children two years ago and it is also what is guiding me into my future career as the writer and illustrator of books. From my poems and short-stories I illustrate; then I think about of the format that this story can be represented and I layout the text and the art in InDesign. In the editorial world of book creation I found all of my abilities blooming; where the essence of the story influences the format of the book. My wish is to create stories that transform readers from all ages.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up in a family of writers and teachers so words always surrounded me. To read is to feed your imagination and to harvest the ability to see beyond the surface of things and reach the essence. I immersed myself in poetry classes, workshops and discovered the power of symbols. But I felt the need to represent these symbols in some way and that’s when I started to draw what I envisioned. This is the key of illustrating, to decode invisible worlds that we imagine in text or ideas into visual representations. Therefore I decided to study Visual Communication with a major in Illustration at CHAVON The School of Design in Santo Domingo; there I developed a poetry book for children’s that I wrote and illustrated. This project got me accepted as a transfer student into Parsons School of Design in New York, where I’m currently majoring in Illustration. My dream is to have a lifetime of publishing not only books for children, but anthologies of poetry and short-stories that I illustrate.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
To be an artist in a world of insensitive people is to challenge reality. Growing up in a house where I could express myself in the arts was like living inside a bubble; because in the Dominican Republic being an artist is not fully considered a job. I remember the times when I tried to explain what illustration is, and the looks I got were plain confusion. Nowadays the culture is changing, illustration groups in the Dominican Republic are flourishing and gaining support from the government; careers of Illustration exists in schools like CHAVON; still there’s many things that need to be improved but the change is starting. My passion for illustration led me to fight in this new world and leave my contribution to the movement. This passion allow me to get accepted into my dream school and now in New York, I will get my bachelors in Illustration.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
You get to see the world in an innovative perspective, you put your inner world into visual representations and get to share it with others. You contribute to the culture, to the arts of your country and along the way you can share powerful ideas that transform the mind of the people. There’s a community of artists whose talents serve as tools to communicate the voices of the ones that need to be heard but can’t. Being an artist goes beyond a simple aesthetic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sarah3lixabeth.wixsite.com/bysarahamaro
- Instagram: bysarahamaro
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-amaro-092524234/