About Sara Dotterer
>>> WHO AM I?
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I am a multi-faceted creative person– a visual brand strategist, rigorous researcher, masterful writer, arts educator and multimedia eco-artist. My cross-disciplinary thinking allows me to make connections across vast conceptual distances. I excel at researching, building systems and then bringing them to life with strategy, education and art. In all that I do, I strategize and design connective spaces whether that be conceptual or physical– from brand strategy to art installations.
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>>> WHAT DO I DO?
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Working in research, writing and brand strategy from NYC to ATX, my experience spans categories as I have worked with start-ups and large, international brands on processes from cross-cultural quantitative research to brand foundations to messaging strategy to brand manifestos to product marketing. In new business, I have worked with a handful of creative agencies to refine their brand strategies and bring them to life with RFPs and pitches as well as press and social. In all of this work, I'm passionate about taking massive amounts of complex information and distilling into a cohesive, visual storyline and its ensuing, actionable deliverables and experiences.
As an art educator, my philosophy focuses on students’ problem-solving abilities. I believe art is a tool for experiencing, understanding, and navigating the world. My goal is to guide each student to their unique version of this tool by introducing them to a wide range of materials and processes: dance, rigorous research, poetry, video, biomaterials, foraging, augmented/virtual reality, inkmaking, fiber and sculpture. I emphasize material research, the development of systems for process and collaboration. These three objectives work in tandem to expand their thinking and make the classroom into a laboratory where students are excited to make things. Lastly, I believe in highlighting the different paths within the art and business worlds so that each student can best utilize their creative toolkit.
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>>> HOW DO I DO IT?
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An ecotone is an ecological term for the overlapping area where two ecosystems meet and integrate (for example, a lake and mountain region). These "blurry" areas are extremely biodiverse and thus resilient– holding up and balancing our ecosystems. The ecotone is a lens I use in all of my work to deconstruct either-or thinking and pull from the resilience of in-between thinking. I live in my own ecotone as an extremely research-oriented strategist and visualizer of ideas who benefits from the many worlds I exist within from research to eco-arts. I am as inspired by my brand strategy work as my artistic work educating students and designing intricate installations, only because they compliment and improve one another.
>>> BIO
Sara Dotterer is from Richmond, VA, but is currently living in Austin, Texas. She received a MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Southern Methodist University and a BA in Art and Anthropology from Washington and Lee University.
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Check out my art studio website here or read my MFA thesis here.
