Sarah Langsam is a Jersey City based sculptor and public artist. Most well known for her wooden mosaics, Langsam’s work investigates and celebrates the individual, while juxtaposing concepts of unity and togetherness.
Langsam’s large-scale installations activate spaces and engage communities. She has created multiple pieces where community members participated in hands-on workshops to assemble individual mosaics that were utilized in the final project.
Langsam’s public artworks, both permanent and temporary, have been exhibited nationally. Formed from primarily salvaged wood, she has displayed her site-specific works along hiking trails, in public parks, in buildings, and on their facades. In 2021, she installed a September 11th memorial in Crescent Park, Millburn, NJ. Tasked with incorporating metal pieces from Ground Zero, the artist expanded her practice to working with steel.
Langsam’s work explores the symbolism of ring shapes in relation to identity. Her largest outdoor installation, made with thousands of interlocking wooden rings, ran over 600 feet in length. She has fabricated public art for a variety of indoor spaces including the St. Croix Falls, WI, Public Library, where a similar chain link installation, spanning three walls, is permanently displayed. The artist is currently working on a commission featuring 32 circular pieces that will be installed in the lobby of an affordable housing complex in Cambridge, MA, in 2024.
Langsam’s smaller wooden assemblages and sawdust sculptures have been shown nationally in group exhibitions. She debuted her first solo show at Allen Lane’s Art Center in Philadelphia, PA, in 2017. In 2021, Langsam’s work was purchased by The VSA and Office of Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC, for their permanent collection.
When not working on her professional artmaking practice, Langsam teaches art to adults with disabilities, a community with which she identifies.