Biography
Sara Joyce was born in California and grew up during the Great Depression, learning the virtue of thrift and the skills to be self-reliant, such as cooking and sewing, during her early years. Her family moved around the Southwest in search of work, and at age 14 she became a live-in mother's helper in Pima, Arizona. She moved with the family to Los Angeles, then San Diego. She moved to Pocatello, Idaho in her 20s, spent many years living in Genesee, Idaho, and finally returned to Pocatello in 1992. She resided there in her studio home until ill-health took her to Moscow, Idaho, where she died in 2011.
Sara produced a substantial body of art works during her lifetime, and both sold and gave some of her work to friends. But showing and selling didn't have meaning for her; she would also say that her work was "imperfect, "and she declined offers to sell her art in galleries. It was only in the last years of her life that she finally saw her work on display in a large public exhibition, thanks to friends, family members and fellow artists who agree that Sara has a place in Idaho art history.