Raised in the midwest, trained on both coasts and right in the middle, my career has centered on art-design-craft-trade higher education.
At the start, I was a craft-based studio-artist, which stays with me and set me into an ever-expanding community of ideas, materials, beauty, inquiry - and exceptionally creative people. I worked for a time as an arts-administrator at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and then as a faculty member at SUNY New Paltz and the Rhode Island School of Design. A turning point in my career came via a Fulbright Fellowship to the Netherlands, which alerted me to the rewards of working on behalf of artists and their communities. This combination of experiences led to the thrilling challenge of leadership: I became the Dean of the graduate programs at Cranbrook Academy of Art, a life-long home base. Later, I became the President of the North Bennet Street School in Boston, the first trade school in America.
Now, in addition to teaching at RISD, I have an independent coaching and consulting practice, where I support the work of other leaders, organizers, culture-workers, artists, designers, and do-ers. And, I volunteer extensively: serving on boards and committees, with a particular passion for fundraising, finance and mission-driven ways to help organizations and people grow.
I regularly serve as a reviewer for arts and culture organizations: jurying exhibitions, reviewing artist awards, residencies, grants and other opportunities. I lecture widely, lend my skills as a guest-critic and organize artist-projects. Occasionally, I show my own work.
In my volunteer work, I serve as the Development Chair for the Art Jewelry Forum and the Treasurer for a limited-equity artist cooperative in Boston, which hones my ability to listen carefully, work toward consensus-based decisions, and respect the hard-won accomplishments of people of all backgrounds. I am also a Board member of the Northeast Document Conservation Center, one of the few places in the US trusted to conserve our Nation’s historic material culture. And, I am one of the first women to be elected to the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, an organization that supports skills- and trades-based training.
I also garden, and with my partner, live on, preserve and learn from 53 acres of conserved forest in the Quabbin Reservoir Watershed. This earth-bound effort teaches me about interdependence, natural cycles, and the many generations of life that lives and thrives there.
I received a Bachelors Degree from Smith College (Sociology), a Certificate (Metalsmithing) from the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and I earned my Masters of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art. My training in Leadership Coaching is from Brown University with ACT Leadership.
CONTACT
I am based in Boston + Wendell, Massachusetts.
You can email me at: sturnerwest@gmail.com
You can find me on Instagram: @ssarahtforall
SARAH TURNER CV
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Always + Ongoing : Studio Artist and Independent Projects
2026 - present : Leadership Coach, private practice
2025 - present : Critic + Guest Faculty, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI
2018 - 2024 : President, North Bennet Street School, Boston, MA
2013 – 2016 : Dean Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2013 – 2014 : Dean and Deputy Director Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2012 – 2013 : Associate Director Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2008 – 2012 : Assistant Director for Academic Affairs Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2007 / 2008 : Visiting Faculty Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI
2007 / 2008 : Adjunct Faculty State University of New York (SUNY), New Paltz, NY
2006 / 2007 : Visiting Instructor / Guest Artist Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2005 – 2007 : Visiting Faculty, full-time sabbatical replacement SUNY, New Paltz, NY
2002 / 2003 : Adjunct Faculty Studio School Program, Oregon College of Art + Craft, Portland, OR
2000 – 2002 : Admissions Director Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
1999 – 2000 : Admissions Recruiter Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2016 Detroit Rotterdam Cave Gallery, Detroit, MI
2014 Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography Museum of Art and Design, New York
2011 OneXOne Cranbrook at Dalgleish Cadillac, Detroit, MI
2008 Composting Good and Evil SNAG Conference, Savannah, GA
2008 Equal Footing National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN
2007 From Minimal to Bling: Contemporary Studio Jewelry The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
2007 Two Cans on a String: works between Maria Phillips + Sarah Turner, Galerie Noel Guymarc’h, Montreal
2006 Critical Mass Network Gallery, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2006 Adornment?, invitational exhibition Rosenberg Gallery at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
2005 Biennial Craft Exhibition Hoffman Gallery, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland, OR
2005 Virtual Tangible Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference, Cleveland, OH (traveled to Velvet DaVinci Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2007)
2004 Exhibition In Print Metalsmith Magazine, vol. 24, no. 4
2004 Mundane Materials Johannsen Charles Gallery, Detroit, MI
2003 Current Directions: Studio Art Jewelry Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2003 Exhibition in Print at SOFA Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2003 Metals 2003 Space 237 and Bowling Green State University, Toledo, OH
2003 Exhibition In Print Metalsmith Magazine, vol.22, no. 3
2003 5th International Enamel on the Edge Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
2002 Solo Exhibition Oregon College of Art & Craft Centrum Gallery, Portland, OR
2002 OCAC Faculty Exhibit Buckley Center Gallery, University of Portland, Portland, OR
2002 24th Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
2001 Transmutations Glass Gallery, University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, TX
2000 Metal-Urge Commencement Art Gallery, Tacoma, WA
2000 Materials: Hard & Soft Center for Visual Arts, Denton, TX
1999 Solo Exhibition West Linn Library, West Linn, OR
1999 Materials: Hard & Soft Center for Visual Arts, Denton, TX
1998 Refined; A North American Metalsmith Competition SFA Gallery, Nacogdoches, TX
1997 Materials: Hard & Soft Center for Visual Arts, Denton, TX
AWARDS + SCHOLARSHIPS
2015 Open Studio Residency Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
2004 - 2005 Fulbright Fellowship the Netherlands, Project: "Contemporary Dutch Jewelry"
2003 / 2004 de Salle Merit Scholarship Cranbrook Academy of Art
2003 Society of North American Goldsmiths Educational Endowment Scholarship
2002 / 2003 DeRoy Merit Scholarship Cranbrook Academy of Art
2002 Oregon College of Art & Craft Diploma Image Commission Award
2002 Jurors Award 24th Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition, Mesa Arts Center
1998 Merit Award Oregon LOCAL 14 jewelers guild
1998 Oregon College of Art & Craft Board of Trustees Commission Award
1997 Oregon College of Art & Craft Penland Workshop Scholarship
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2018 Asterix-In-Residence, Applied Craft and Design Graduate Program, OCAC + PNCA, Portland, OR
2017 Curator / Organizer, MoreLand, EDITION at Simone de Sousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
2017 Resident Artist, Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE
2017 Visiting Artist/Critic, Western North Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
2016 Artist - Penland Fall Printmaking Concentration, Penland, NC
2016 Organizer-Host, AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellows Symposium, Cranbrook Academy of Art
2016 Guest Critic Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2008 - 2016 Chair, Critical Studies Fellowship Search Committee Cranbrook Academy of Art
2008 - 2016 Permanent member, Fulbright Committee Cranbrook Academy of Art
2014 Moderator “How Does the Conversation Impact the Sorting? Art School, The Crit & The Biennial”, with Michelle Grabner and Kevin Beasley, panelists, Detroit Institute of Arts
2011 – 2014 Advisory member Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit Program Committee
2010 – 2013 Board member Michigan Fulbright Chapter, Co-president, 2011-2012
2009 – 2012 Visiting Critic RISD, Jewelry + Metals graduate seminar
2011 Essay Exhibition Catalog, “No Object is an Island”, Cranbrook Art Museum
2011 Moderator Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco, Professional Practices panel
2010 Essay Exhibition Catalog, “I don’t believe in art. I believe in artists.”, Whitdel Arts Space, Detroit, MI
2010 Conference Speakers Selection Committee (Seattle 2011) Society of North American Goldsmiths
2009 Committee member Society of North American Goldsmiths conference speaker selection panel
2009 Presenter College Art Association in Detroit: Professional Practices, Detroit, MI
2009 Juror / Exhibition Concept “to be: determined – an exhibition of the first five”, University of Colorado, Ft. Collins, CO
2008 Lecture “Objects + Jewelery, New Work”, RISD, Providence, RI
2007 Lecture “Active Objects: Contemporary American Metalsmiths”, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam
2006 Lecture “Possibilities in Objects: recent work, recent projects”, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
2006 Lecture “Possibilities in Objects: recent work, recent projects”, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY
2005 Curator “Long Strides In Tiny Shoes”, an exhibition of contemporary Dutch jewelry, May 2005, Huis Rechts Art Space, Amsterdam, NL; November 2005, Beatrice Lang Gallery, Bern, Switzerland; December 2005, Amsterdam RAI Exhibition, Amsterdam, NL
2005 Lecture “Long Strides In Tiny Shoes”, Design Preis Schweiz 2005, Kornhaus Forum, Bern, Switzerland
2005 Lecture “Going Deep: Contemporary Dutch Jewelry”, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland, OR
2005 Lecture “From the Outside: Reflections on Dutch Contemporary Jewelry”, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
2004 Lecture “1:19231 – Contemporary American Metalsmiths”, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
2004 Lecture “Contemporary Dutch Jewelry”, Fulbright Association meeting at the American Embassy, The Hague, NL
2003 Lecture “From Wearable to Wall: Current Work”, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2000 - 2002 Member Exhibitions Committee, Hoffman Gallery at the Oregon College of Art & Craft
2001 Teaching Assistant to Maria Phillips Electroforming and Enameling Workshop, Penland School of Crafts
2000 Lecture “Sarah Turner, Recent Work”, Art Jewelry Forum meeting, Seattle, WA
2000 Teaching Assistant to Jan Baum Lockets, Pendants and Wearable Vessels Workshop, Penland School of Crafts (and in 1998)
1998 Review “Somewhat Overwrought, Jewelry by Kate Wagle”, Ornament Magazine, vol. 21, issue 4
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2008 The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellery Makers – Anthony Lim, Editor
2006 500 Necklaces; Lark Books - Martha LeVan, Editor
2004 The Art of Enameling; Lark Books - Linda Darty, Author
2004 Exhibition In Print, Metalsmith Magazine, vol. 24, no. 4
2003 Exhibition In Print, Metalsmith Magazine, vol.22, no. 3
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS + ROLES
249 A Artist Cooperative, Board Member + Treasurer (2024 - present)
Art Jewelry Forum (Board Member 2017 - present, Development Chair)
Fulbright Association, Michigan Chapter (Board Member 2010-2013)
The Furniture Society (Board Member 2020-2025)
Northeast Document Conservation Center (Board Member 2024 - present)
EDUCATION
2026 ACT at Brown University.Certificate, Executive Coaching
2004 Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA, Metalsmithing
1999 Oregon College of Art and Craft. Certificate, Metalsmithing
1993 Smith College. BA, Sociology