sarah mosteller

In North Carolina, Sarah Mosteller uses knitting in an unexpected way – working not with yarn, but with steel wire to create sculptures that focus on the feminine body and identity.

Artist: Born and grew up in Mobile, AL. At the College of Charleston, Mosteller majored in studio art and art history. She later headed to New York University and completed her master’s degree at NYU in art therapy.

Afterward, she lived in Brooklyn for eight years, working as an art therapist and artist there before moving in 2025 to Raleigh, where

she works out of her home studio

In the beginning: In 2013, Mosteller broke her back in an accident that left her on bed rest for several months. She took up knitting as a way to cope with the healing process.

When she returned to making art, Mosteller decided to combine her passion for sculpture with her new love of knitting.

Art & materials: Sculptural work, using hand-knitted and hand-sewn steel wire, to create feminine clothing, such as dresses, gloves and body forms ($500 to $8,000).

“As an artist and licensed art therapist, my sculptural work is primarily informed by the intersections of history, identity, trauma and the body,” Mosteller said.

Tools: Countless sizes of knitting needles.

Inspirations:

Her grandmother, mother and her art teachers in school.

“My grandmother and mother shared our family history of quilting, sewing and creating,” said Mosteller.

Ruth Asawa, an American artist known for her abstract looped wire sculptures.

“Though I was unfamiliar with Ruth Asawa’s work until after I started exploring knitting with wire materials, my process feels deeply connected to her and her work,” said Mosteller. “I admire her actions of sharing her artist knowledge to help others and that her art process is inherently relational and always about connection.”