Sarah Tompkins’ paintings emerge from the tensions of uncertainty and ambivalence which are made manifest in the abstracted image. Her works prioritize process over outcome as they submit to creative and destructive forces.

Tompkins holds an MFA from the University of Ottawa, where she was awarded the Michel Goulet Prize for Outstanding Thesis Exhibition (2023), and a BFA in painting and printmaking from Queen’s University. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Now the air is so filled with ghosts / that no one knows how to escape them at the University of Ottawa, Rotting Fig, Empty Stomach at Lalani-Jennings Contemporary Art in Guelph, ON (2023), and Sarah Tompkins & Katie McDonald at Galerie Z Art Space in Montreal, QC (2022). She has exhibited at Olga Korper Gallery (Toronto), SAW Gallery (Ottawa), Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston), Union Gallery (Kingston), AXENÉO7 (Gatineau), and numerous group shows in London (UK), Barcelona (ES), and New York City (NY). Her work has been placed in several major collections including Google Canada and the Global Affairs Visual Arts Collection.