“dispersion and home II,” 2025, reed, mortar, metal, paint, and cochineal ink, 38 x 56 x 7 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Sarita Westrup
Virginia A. Groot Material Exploration Residency
,
2026
Sarita Westrup is an artist and contemporary basketmaker whose sculptural works draw on the material languages of fiber, movement, and containment to explore ideas of border, belonging, and transformation. Originally from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, Westrup reinterprets traditional weaving and dyeing techniques through a bicultural lens, translating the visual rhythms of her home into forms that feel both architectural and intimate.
Working across basketry, sculpture, and installation, her practice bridges inherited craft traditions with experimental processes, binding together natural and synthetic materials to evoke the permeability between land, body, and culture. Through weaving, wrapping, knotting, and accumulation, her forms reference migration routes, fences, and vessels, examining the tension between protection and restriction, fragility and resilience. Her work often considers how materials can hold memory and embody the layered experiences of displacement, labor, and cultural inheritance.
Westrup has exhibited nationally at institutions such as El Museo del Barrio, Penland Gallery, the Chautauqua Institution, and Superhouse Gallery. She has presented solo exhibitions at Erin Cluley Gallery, Cluley Projects, and Arts Fort Worth. Her honors include grants and support from the Center for Craft, Nasher Sculpture Center, Nest, and the American Craft Council. She completed a one-year Artist-in-Residence at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina in 2024–2025 and was awarded the 2026 Virginia A. Groot Material Exploration Residency at the Center for Craft in Asheville.
Selected works
“nonlinear route knot,” 2025, reed, mortar, metal, cord, paint, and cochineal ink, 28 x 17 x 15 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Basket/Gate (cochineal),” 2025, reed, mortar, paint, and cochineal ink, 26 x 25 x 5 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Basket/Gate (blue),” 2025, reed, mortar, paint, and cochineal ink, 26 x 49 x 4 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“nonlinear route IV,” 2025, reed, mortar, metal, cord, and paint, 78 x 57 x 16 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“nonlinear route III,” 2025, reed, mortar, metal, cord, paint, and cochineal ink, 75 x 55 x 12 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“nonlinear route III” (detail), 2025, reed, mortar, metal, cord, paint, and cochineal ink, 75 x 55 x 12 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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