Sarah Brayer is internationally known for her poured washi paperworks and aquatint prints.
Brayer's art is in the collections of the British Museum, the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian, the Newark Public Library and the American Embassy, Tokyo. In 2007, she was selected as the first non- Japanese woman cover artist for the prestigious 52nd CWAJ Contemporary Print Show in Tokyo.
Drawn to Japanese art through raku-style ceramics and the color aquatints of Mary Cassatt, she studied Japanese woodblock printing with Yoshida Toshi (1911-1996), the son of influential artist Yoshida Hiroshi. In 1986 she opened her own print studio in an old kimono weaving factory in northern Kyoto.
Brayer first encountered poured washi-the technique she soon adopted -during a visit to Dieu Donne Papermill in New York City in 1986. This somewhat unpredictable, yet painterly technique seemed a perfect blend of chance and design, led her to the ancient Japanese paper center of Echizen to experiment with large-scale poured-paper images. She has worked there since 1986, as the only western artist. In 1992 Brayer was the first artist ever invited to exhibit at Byodoin Temple, a World heritage site dating from the Heian period, as part of Kyoto's 1200-year celebration.
Residing in Kyoto since 1980, Sarah Brayer divides her working time among Kyoto, Imadate ( Echizen in Fukui pref.) and New York City.