Sarah Grant 2009

Sarah Grant

Des Moines, Iowa

A native of Ames, Iowa, Sarah Grant attended Iowa State University and Colorado State University before completing her studies at the University of Iowa with a B.F.A. in intaglio printmaking. She also holds a M.A. degree in intaglio printmaking and a M.F.A. in painting, both from the University of Iowa.

Grant is the founder and owner of Sticks, Inc. The company produces functional and object art that is merchandised in more than 100 galleries nationwide. Some of Sticks’ Iowa installation projects include Blank Children’s Hospital, Cabo San Lucas Restaurant, Iowa State Daycare Center, Hotel Pattee, Animal Rescue League of Central Iowa, and the Butler House Bed & Breakfast.

Grant’s Iowa State connections run deep. Her parents are both Iowa State graduates, and Grant herself was an adjunct professor in the College of Design from 1980-90. But it has been her work with three major public art projects through the Iowa Art in State Buildings Program at Iowa State that has served as her main connection to the university.

Her most recent and notable project, the mural “What I Love About Iowa State,” was commissioned and created for Iowa State’s sesquicentennial celebration. Grant also created 150 limited edition framed lithographs of the mural for public sale, as well as unique furniture and objects d’art to commemorate the university’s 150th anniversary.

Another public work of art created by Grant and Sticks, Inc., at Iowa State is the mural “We Shall Know Iowa State University by its Myriad Parts,” commissioned and located at the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center. The mural includes two panels composed of more than 75 vignettes of campus life. Her first campus commission is the diverse Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine Child Care Center project, “My World is so Full of Many Things,” which includes 58 architecturally integrated sculptures that are each hand-drawn, carefully engraved, carved, and painted. Sticks also gifted a 14-foot sculpture of Christian Petersen to Iowa State.

In 2008 Grant was named Business Woman of the Year in Des Moines and has received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Interior Design. She is a fine artist specializing in works on paper represented by Olson Larson Galleries of West Des Moines. Those works are owned by many corporations and museums throughout the United States.

Grant and her husband, Mark Keairnes, reside in Des Moines. She is the mother of three children: Rachel Hutchison Eubank, Rebecca Hutchison, and Hannah Hutchison, an Iowa State sophomore. She has three stepchildren: Erik Keairnes, Drew Keairnes, and Ryan Keairnes, an Iowa State junior. Grant is a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.