sarah vaughn grew up in southern illinois, discovering glass while pursuing a bfa at southern illinois university carbondale. she has been exploring the material ever since. upon graduating, her thesis work was honored as the sole winner of the rickert-ziebold trust award, a prestigious competition for graduating seniors in art and design. her work has been exhibited and collected internationally, receiving numerous accolades, and featured in publications such as emerge 2008 and 2012 and american art collector. she has been a resident artist at the university of oregon, the WORKS museum in ohio, and was the first mfa traveling assistant resident at the chrysler museum glass studio. she was invited to participate in the inaugural residency program at glass wheel studios in norfolk, virginia, where she created work for two years. after receiving her mfa from rochester institute of technology in 2014, she was awarded a research and creativity grant and invited to exhibit at SOFA chicago. she has forged several award-winning collaborative practices with fellow artists and friends. in the fall of 2021, sarah moved to penland school of crafts to be an artist-in-residence. she enjoys life in the mountains, where she spends time with her dog while pursuing new veins of her work and fixing broken rocks.