When I sit down to draw or paint, I usually go with what I feel in the moment. I express my experiences, situations, and feelings through art. Other people incarcerated within CCWF have recognized my talent and put in requests for me to make them family gifts, often with calligraphy writing. I also make stuffed animals for other mothers incarcerated to send to their children at home. This has sparked a passion within me that I want to continue when I parole.
I use a variety of mediums or materials such as drawing pencils, pens, markers, acrylic, watercolors, pastels and collage with magazines. I make stuffed animals with shirts bought from vendors allowed in quarterly boxes, or donations from others. I use acrylics to paint on faces and features, or to dye the materials.
I grew up in a muliti-cultural family of artists and found inspiration from them. I explored various materials, methods, and mediums until I found drawing, tattooing, and most importantly making stuffed animals. Stuffed animals are a way I can help families reunite even while separated by barbed wire and brick walls. In this work I feel a sense of making amends with society.
Sarah Montoya was born and raised in Los Angeles, California with Mexican and Native American roots. From a young age, her artistic interests ranged from piano to various dance styles such as Aztec, Folklorico, tap, jazz and ballet, as well as drawing, painting, tattooing, and silk screening. At CCWF, she’s drawn posters for COVID awareness, and continues to paint pictures and affirmations on the sidewalks around the facility. Currently, Sarah is illustrating a children's book for terminally ill and disabled children and she makes stuffed animals and mails them out to children whose mothers are incarcerated. She hopes to continue the craft as a business endeavor when she paroles.
Sarah has participated in several exhibitions including: Return to Sender: Prison as Censorship, EFA Gallery NY, (2023); The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison Through Art and Poetry, Museum of the African Diaspora, CA (2023); and Paperchained International, Boom Gate Gallery, Australia (2024).
Sarah Montoya #WG3594
CCWF #512-10-4L
P.O. Box 1508 Chowchilla CA 93610
California | CCWF