Sara Lee Semple grew up in the suburbs of St. Paul. By the time she entered junior high, her art was winning awards and attracting buyers. Sara attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD),
graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She was employed by a weekly newspaper and later an advertising agency. Sara had a close relationship with her father, an accountant, and life long mentor.
Sara married Mike Hanlon. A year later they moved to Brainerd where she established herself as a free lance graphic artist. When she received national recognition for an advertising campaign, it should have been incentive to develop her own agency. However, Sara’s interests lay with studio art. She accepted a “day job” at Brainerd State Hospital as a technician. This gave her time and funding to make the shift to studio art, and invest toward a gallery.
After a six month marketing test in 1993, White Wings Gallery established permanency in 1994, representing regional artists. Sara was involved with many area arts organizations, often as a member of the board of directors. She sat on the Region Five Arts Council, curated exhibitions at many public sites in central and northern Minnesota. She was also a free lance photojournalist for local newspapers and a magazine, writing on the subject of art.
Sara did a two-year residency working with children at risk, integrating education and culture through art. She has mentored children and adults in the arts and is sought to conduct workshops and guest-teach in private and public schools.
In January of the year 2000, Sara and Mike relocated to Chaska, purchasing the William Scott House and renaming her gallery to Mill House Gallery to keep with the house’s history. She continues to represent a fine selection of artists.
about Sara Hanlon’s art . . .
The development of polymer mediums was particularly attractive to Sara. Because a wide variety of polymer based mediums inter work with each other, it gives Sara the freedom to experiment. Her work shows strong graphic design and vibrant color. Sara often slips a touch of fantasy…and humor into her work. Her life long passion of study in the humanities began showing up in her imagery in the past few years. This all helps define Sara as a surrealist though her work often takes on a touch of the abstract.
Sara also carves exquisitely detailed and painted decoys. She began carving wood in 7th grade. Enamored with the traditions of decoy carving, Sara produced her first decoy in 1981 and started entering shows with them a few years later. Her decoys were in such demand that she was unable to make them available to the public due to a never ending waiting list. She stopped accepting new commissions and her decoys will be available at Mill House Gallery in time.
Her artwork is in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad…When asked how she is able to do all she does, Sara humorously responds, “I was bored once and didn’t like it very much.” To quote Sara, “I can’t help but to immerse myself in the arts. I am interested in everything and hungry to know more. To study art is to study all of mankind, our greatness and our failings. There is nothing that gives me greater pleasure than to lock myself away in my studio to study, to think and to produce…this is what I am.”
