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Hess runs a test print in black and white

Photos by Allison Faunce of Faunce Photography, courtesy of Sarah Hess

Sarah Hess in her home studio

Photos by Allison Faunce of Faunce Photography, courtesy of Sarah Hess

Posted Sunday, November 1, 2026 9:00 am

By Emily Olson

Sarah Hess wouldn’t consider herself an expert gardener. But she is happiest in her yard, dirt under her nails. Even as a child, she was a collector of wildflowers as she trampled through the woods of rural Chepachet where she grew up. “I’m the type of person who needs to be around plants and living things and see the color green,” she says. “But in Rhode Island we don’t get to enjoy those things year-round.” To help her survive stick season every year, she turns to her other passion: art.

Hess is a professional artist and educator – including being an adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island College – who studied and worked across many art forms, including ceramics and jewelry-making, before landing on printmaking. “I wanted to focus on an art form that could be both a hobby and a business,” she says. “The ease of being able to create multiple pieces from one print block made it quite doable. And the subject matter seems to really resonate with people.”

Hess’ work is inspired by the precise renderings of vintage botanical illustrations, but she sprinkles in a dash of influence from the American Arts and Crafts movement that keeps her art from looking staid. “I like that you can see the artist’s hand in my work,” she says.

Her process starts with obsession. “I’ll often be drawn to – almost obsessed with – a certain plant,” she says. Last year she was enamored with dahlias. “Months before I started making dahlia prints, I was going to the “u-pick” gardens at Four Town Farms in Seekonk, MA, taking pictures and picking the flowers so that when I eventually sat down to create the piece, I had visual references.” Next comes the sketching stage, where she arranges the flowers and buds in pencil before transferring the finished sketch to a rubber carving block. “The carving part reminds me of my work in clay,” she says. “It’s the tactile part of the process, and it’s really satisfying.” This is also where her hand appears alongside the plant. “I leave a lot of carving lines that show the process,” she adds. “They echo the shape of the flowers and leaves and add movement to the piece.” She then inks the block and pulls the print.

But why the fixation? “It’s a combination of things,” she says. “It’s really just my fascination with Mother Nature – the variety and forms and color.” And although she does print in black and white, her love of color is apparent in her work. “I look to nature for inspiration,” she says, “but I mix paints in a way that exaggerates or intensifies the colors.”

Hess’ inspiration may be rooted in nature, but it takes shape in a different form of organic chaos: family life. “Our home has a formal living room that became my daughter’s playroom,” she says. “Now I’ve taken over half of it as a workspace.” And although her husband often encourages her to find a dedicated studio space, this setup in their house in Barrington works for her. “I’m certainly more productive at home, but I also like the ability to tinker with a piece when inspiration strikes,” she says. “Having art be my full-time endeavor was what I always imagined for myself. I feel very fortunate.”