ARTIST BIO

Sarah Hempel Irani has been sculpting expressive figures in clay and stone for nearly twenty years. Originally from Michigan, she moved to Maryland to apprentice with Jay Hall Carpenter, former Artist-in-Residence at the Washington National Cathedral.

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Sarah has contributed sculpture to national shows and received several notable awards, including the Maryland Arts Council Individual Artist Award in 2009. The National Sculpture Society awarded her the Edward Fenno Hoffman Prize for her work that "uplifts the human spirit." Two bas-relief sculptures traveled the United States with the Foundation for Sacred Arts, beginning at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Sister Wendy Beckett, juror, commended her heartrending sculpture of a woman grieving the loss of a child, entitled “A Voice in Ramah,” at the Third Annual Catholic Arts Exhibition at St. Vincent’s College, Pennsylvania. The work is now part of the permanent collection at Hillsdale College, Michigan.