Spark Artist

Painting, installation & sculpture
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Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos, b. 1976, Springfield, OR) is a multidisciplinary artist from the Umpqua River Valley on the South Coast of Oregon, working in painting, photography, printmaking, weaving and large-scale installation. She was selected as a National Academician by the National Academy of Design in 2025. She has also been awarded the 2024 Hallie Ford Fellowship, the University of Oregon's 2022-23 CFAR Fellowship and the 2022 Forge Project Fellowship. Her work, which has been exhibited internationally, is in many collections, including the Gochman Family Collection (New York, NY), Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY), Forge Project (Mahicannituck [Hudson River] Valley, NY), Missoula Art Museum (MT), Museum of Fine Art (Boston, MA), Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (CA), and the Portland Art Museum (OR). She is from a family of professional artists and educators; her training began in the home. Her lifelong mentor is Lillian Pitt (Wasco, Warm Springs, Yakama), and her weaving teachers were Greg Archuleta (Grand Ronde) and Greg A. Robinson (Chinook Nation). Siestreem graduated Phi Kappa Phi with a BS from Portland State University in 2005. She earned an MFA with distinction from Pratt Art Institute in 2007. She created a self-sustaining weaving program for her tribe, the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw people. She lives and works in Portland, OR, and is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery and Cristin Tierney Gallery.