Sara Vanderbeek is an artist, curator, organizer, and art advisor based in Austin, TX. Her artwork work responds to place, politics, motherhood, mental illness, and trauma. She has engaged in projects at venues nationally, including The Contemporary Austin (TX); Bentonville Film Festival at Cache (AR); Deitch Projects (NY); Facebook Open Arts (TX), and TSALA (CA) upcoming.
Vanderbeek is the Founding Executive Director & Curator at DORF, an artist-run experimental contemporary art gallery that provides space for artists and advocacy initiatives. As an advisor, she has formed several notable private and public art collections including Texas Municipal Retirement System (TX) and University Health (TX) and was a founding member and board president of ICOSA Collective (TX). She began her career as a Specialist at Christie’s Auction House in New York where she gained professional training in art appraising, cataloguing, and sales.
She has received grants from the City of Austin Economic Development Department, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Christie’s Auction House, National Endowment for the Arts, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and was a finalist for the 2022 Artpace International Artist-In-Residence Program. She received her BFA in printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design.