ZOË BOISE
Paired With: Sarah Susannah Buchanan Philipps
Winter Sunrise
Sarah Susannah Buchannan Phillips was a gleaming and positive college student who lost her life too young. She was loved and respected by members of her summer camp and was sincerely kind and genuine. She went to school in Boulder, Colorado, and enjoyed ski season which was what she hoped to enjoy after studying abroad. After reading stories about Sarah, I was inspired by her character and wanted this painting to shine a light on the traits that had a lasting impact on everyone in her life. Her friends wrote letters honoring her stating that she knew how to include everyone, was a positive leader and taught them that beauty came from within. One quote from these letters that stick with me says, "I had never met someone more alive". Sarah left a "legacy of laughter" and her influence continues to spread through a cabin built in her name at her camp. This painting of a warm sun rising over the cold and rocky mountain symbolizes the good that is yet to come, in all our lives, when tragedy strikes. Additionally, the words 'Elegy for Sarah' comes from a short piece that her mother wrote for her after her passing. As vaccines are being made available to the public, this theme of a new hope appears fitting as we gradually near the end of a global pandemic.
