Sarah Gjertson earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997, and is currently a Professor of Studio Art in the School of Art & Art History (SAAH) at the University of Denver. Since joining DU in 2002, she has developed and administered the foundational art curriculum, is a former Director of SAAH, and has taught a variety of Studio Art courses from the beginning to advanced level. Additionally, she’s developed new interdisciplinary courses like “Unconventional Portrait” and offered upper level seminars such as “Professional Practice” and “Bad Girls, Riot Grrrls and Misbehaving Women”.

In 2019, Sarah spearheaded a new Studio area in SAAH called “Integrated Practice”, which offers students a means to work conceptually across mediums and build connections between research and process. Of many goals, Integrated Practice aims to support students’ growing self-awareness of their own origins and subjectivity, identify larger themes in their work, connect them through research to other disciplines, and help prepare them for the broadening landscape available to them as creative practitioners.

A former skydiver and beekeeper, Sarah finds deep enjoyment in backcountry camping, is fond of growing food and feeding people, supports local and national animal welfare efforts, is a fan of most things analog, and is grateful for her rescue menagerie.