Sarah Gotowka

AGAPE Southern Tier-Finger Lakes Family Support Specialist

Sarah Gotowka is a visual artist currently living in Trumansburg. She is adopted Korean-Polish-Italian-American, and grew up in the suburbs of Rochester where she obsessively made mix tapes from 90’s radio airplay and built makeshift forts in the woods. (These factors alone have influenced her art practice immensely.) She received her BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art majoring in Fiber and Material Studies in 2007, and graduated with an MFA from Concordia University’s Fiber and Material Practices in 2013.

After receiving her MFA she moved back to upstate New York and has collaborated with Cornell, Ithaca College, The Craftstitute, New Roots Charter School and The Johnson Museum of Art, giving various workshops on natural dye plants and textile practices. Thanks to Alternatives Federal Credit Union’s IDA program and grants from Sustainable Tompkins and the Community Arts Partnership, in 2016 Sarah was able to open Luna Fiber Studio a fully equipped weaving studio in downtown Trumansburg.

In 2016, with the help of close friends and fellow adult adoptees Carrie Freshour and Michael Stewart, Sarah held an event at Luna Fiber Studio for youth adoptees to connect through the process of art making. PAW (Painting Adoption Weekend) brought together families from foster care, kinship care, and international and domestic adoption, and fostered a community of young and adult adoptees. PAW was funded entirely by the Cornell’s Community Funding Partnership Board and was only possible thanks to the help of Emily Dong and other volunteers from Cornell and Ithaca College, some of who were also adoptees.

Realizing the power of PAW and how invaluable her friendships of adult adoptees were to her understanding of her identity, Sarah continues working to foster and support this community. Sarah serendipitously became part of the AFFCNY and AGAPE team in July of 2017, and is now more than ever, dedicated to serving families who have been touched by adoption.